Swiss food giant Nestle has resumed the manufacture of its Maggi brand instant noodles in India and plans to be back on the market by November, company officials said today.

Nestle had to withdraw the product in June after India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority said Maggi noodles contained “unsafe and hazardous” levels of lead.

The noodles cleared court-mandated laboratory tests this month, with levels of lead well below permissible limits. The Bombay High Court ruled in favour of Nestle to overturn the ban.

Company spokesman Himangshu Manglik said production of Maggi had begun at three plants in India and will hit Indian markets after getting necessary clearances.

“In compliance with orders of the Bombay High Court, fresh samples from the newly manufactured batches will be sent for testing,” another senior Nestle official said.

“Once the samples are cleared, we shall commence sales. No dates have been fixed but we are trying for as early as November,” he added.

Nestle has maintained that its products are safe, and said more than 3,000 samples of the noodles tested by labs in India and abroad confirmed they were safe to eat.

- dpa