Nestle's low-fat dairy whitener sample found 'unsafe' in India: Regulator

A sample of Nestle's low-fat dairy whitener collected from the Lalit hotel in New Delhi has been declared "unsafe" and "substandard", the country's food safety regulator said on Saturday.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India said in a post on X that laboratory analysis found the sample non-compliant, with authorities directing the hotel to immediately stop selling the product.

The food regulator did not make the full report public.

Nestle India said the product is safe to consume and complied with applicable regulations, adding the FSSAI report had compared total phosphorus with the limit for added phosphorus without accounting for phosphorus naturally present in milk-based ingredients.

The company spokesperson said it was engaging with authorities and had shared data on the same and similar milk-based products to show the presence of naturally occurring phosphorus.

The FSSAI did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on Nestle's statement.

The Lalit hotel did not respond to a request for comment.

In September, the regulator said it had found a Nestle baby food sample to be substandard and was pursuing legal action against the Swiss food giant in one of its biggest growth markets.

Nestle then said its products were "fully compliant with all the applicable regulations."