India finds Nestle baby food sample substandard, takes legal action
- India's food regulator is pursuing legal action against Nestle after finding its baby food substandard, impacting a crucial market
NEW DELHI: India’s food regulator said on Friday it had found a Nestle baby food sample to be substandard and was pursuing legal action against the Swiss company in one of its biggest growth markets.
Nestle did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the action by authorities, the latest in a crackdown on India’s $100 billion food industry which has included surprise factory visits and product testing.
Officials found a sample of Nestle “follow-up formula”, which is a milk product for infants, was “sub-standard with respect to biotin”, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said.
The regulator specifies a standardized reference range for biotin, more commonly known as vitamin B7, in baby food.
“A re-analysis” of the sample found it was “non-conforming” with respect to prescribed biotin requirements under Indian laws, the regulator said in a social media post.
The FSSAI did not say whether it would order a recall of the product.
India busts firm faking expiry dates, nutrition labels on PepsiCo, Nestle food exports
Nestle faces legal cases
Nestle, whose shares in India fell almost 3% following news of the action, counts India as a key growth market.
Milk and nutrition products, including infant formulas and baby foods, were Nestle India’s biggest revenue category in the year ending March 2026, generating a third of its product sales worth $2.4 billion.
The FSSAI said it has also filed cases over two other Nestle baby food products, NAN Excella Pro Stage 1, and Lactogen Pro 1, for making misleading claims in breach of regulations.
“Three separate adjudication cases have been filed against Nestle,” the FSSAI said.
Nestle also fell foul of India’s food regulator in 2015, when authorities banned its popular Maggi noodles over alleged excess lead levels and labelling lapses, triggering a massive recall. Maggi later returned to shelves after fresh tests.
Debate over food safety in India has intensified since Reuters reported last month that the government opted for a weaker labelling regime after lobbying by Coca-Cola and groups backing Nestle and PepsiCo, which argued
that warning labels were ineffective.
Many companies, however, have implemented such measures voluntarily in European markets.
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