India’s food regulator has called a sample of Nestle India’s low-fat dairy whitener unsafe and substandard after tests on a pack taken from a New Delhi hotel.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India said the sample was drawn from Bharat Hotels Ltd, which runs The Lalit at Connaught Place. A food analyst’s report found the product non-compliant under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The hotel has been told to stop selling the identified product at once. A copy of the laboratory report was given to the operator, and a notice has been issued. The hotel was also offered a chance to appeal within the period set by the law.
The full report has not been made public.
What the Test Flagged
FSSAI described the sample as both unsafe and substandard. That label goes beyond a paperwork slip and signals a breach of food safety rules.
The regulator has not listed every parameter that failed. Nestle India has pointed to phosphorus as the point of dispute.
Company Says the Reading Is Misread
Nestle India said the whitener is safe to drink and meets the rules that apply to it. A spokesperson said the lab set total phosphorus against the limit for added phosphorus, without separating the phosphorus that milk already carries.
Phosphorus occurs naturally in milk, and therefore in milk-based products. The company said it is speaking with the authorities and has shared data on this whitener and similar products to show that natural share.
The regulator had not immediately answered that explanation.
A Second Nestle Sample in Two Months
The finding comes weeks after the regulator said a Nestle baby food sample was substandard and that legal action was under way. Nestle said then that its products were fully compliant with the rules.
India is one of the company’s largest growth markets, so a single hotel sample is being watched beyond the premises where it was taken.
For now, the sale stop covers the identified product at the hotel. The regulator’s public note did not announce a batch-wide recall.