Nestle disputes India safety finding after hotel told to halt whitener sales

A sample of Nestle’s low-fat dairy whitener taken from the Lalit hotel in New Delhi has triggered an order to stop selling the product—and a dispute over how its ingredients were tested. According to Khaleej Times, India’s food safety regulator declared the sample unsafe and below standard, while Nestle India maintained that the product was safe to consume and met the rules that apply to it.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, or FSSAI, announced the finding in a post on X on Saturday. It said laboratory testing showed that the sample did not meet requirements and that authorities had instructed the hotel to halt sales immediately. The reported action concerns the product at the hotel; the account does not describe a wider sales ban or a recall.

A dispute over what the test measured

Nestle India’s response focused on phosphorus, a substance naturally present in milk-based ingredients. The company said the regulator’s report had measured total phosphorus against a limit for added phosphorus. Its objection is that the comparison did not account for the phosphorus already present in the ingredients, rather than introduced as an addition. That distinction is the core of the company’s challenge to the finding.

Nestle India said the product was safe to consume and complied with applicable regulations.

The regulator did not publish its full laboratory report. That leaves the public account without the underlying test results needed to examine the disagreement in detail. The available statements set out two different positions: the authority’s finding that the tested sample failed requirements, and the company’s argument that the phosphorus comparison did not properly account for the product’s milk-based ingredients.

A Nestle spokesperson said the company was discussing the matter with authorities. It had also supplied data on the same product and similar milk-based products to demonstrate the presence of naturally occurring phosphorus. The regulator did not immediately answer Reuters’ request for a response to Nestle’s statement, according to the report. The Lalit hotel also did not respond to a request for comment.

An earlier finding adds context

The dispute follows another regulatory finding involving Nestle in India. In September, the FSSAI said a sample of the company’s baby food was below standard and that it was pursuing legal action against the Swiss food group. Nestle responded at the time by saying its products complied fully with all applicable regulations. That earlier finding concerned a different product from the dairy whitener now under scrutiny.

India is one of Nestle’s biggest growth markets, giving the disagreement commercial importance beyond the hotel where the sample was collected. For now, the immediate action reported is the instruction to stop sales there. The next development to watch is the authorities’ response to the data Nestle says it has submitted, and whether further information clarifies the basis of the laboratory finding.