Nestle India, manufacturer of Maggi noodles, told the Bombay High Court today that a certain batch of its instant food product may have contained lead beyond permissible limit but government's decision to impose a blanket ban was unfair and illegal.

If a particular batch was substandard, it could have been banned but stopping the entire production was not justified, argued Nestle's lawyer, senior advocate Iqbal Chhagla. "Without receiving any complaint, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has banned our product, due to which we lost goodwill, reputation and suffered huge losses running into crores of rupees," Chhagla said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Nestle against FSSAI's June 5 order banning nine variants of Maggi and the Maharashtra government's order prohibiting the sale of Maggi. Of the 30,000 tonnes of Maggie distributed in the market, the company had destroyed 25,000 tonnes, Chhagla told the division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade.