<div>Nestle chief Paul Bulcke wants to see its hugely popular Maggi brand of instant noodles back on the Indian market as soon as possible after it was banned over a health scare.</div><div> </div><div>India's food safety regulator on June 5 banned the product after tests that it said showed the noodles contained excessive levels of lead.</div><div> </div><div>"The only thing that interests me is to have the product back as soon as possible and that things are cleared up," he said while visiting the Milan expo.</div><div> </div><div>"We are doing all we can to make contact with Indian authorities at the earliest," he said, adding: "The product is safe." </div><div> </div><div>Asked about the possible impact of the ban on jobs in India, he said production would resume "if we can resolve this fast."</div><div> </div><div>Nestle has been battling its worst-ever branding crisis in India since a regulator in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh found monosodium glutamate (MSG) and excess lead in a sample of its noodles.</div><div> </div><div>On Monday, the Swiss food giant said that the ban had led to 3.2 billion rupees (44.5 million euros, $50.5 million) worth of goods being withdrawn.</div><div> </div><div>A Nestle spokesman said it was the biggest ever withdrawal of a product by the company.</div><div> </div><div>The world's biggest food company is challenging the June 5 order from the government's food safety regulator and is in the process of destroying more than 27,000 tonnes of Maggi noodles after halting production.</div><div> </div><div>The company had already announced it was pulling the product from sale when the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India imposed a ban following similar moves by some state governments.</div><div> </div><div>Nestle does not give a breakdown of sales per brand but Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, put it at around three billion Swiss francs (2.8 billion euros) a year.</div><div> </div><div>The safety scare is a huge blow to the company, which has been selling its Maggi products for more than three decades in India, and has 80 per cent of the country's instant noodle market.</div><div> </div><div>Nestle's Indian unit has said it would take a hit of more than 3.2 billion rupees ($45 million) from the continuing withdrawal and destruction of its Maggi instant noodles.</div><div> </div><div>The company on Friday challenged those findings in court but has to continue with the withdrawal until a verdict is reached.</div><div> </div><div>Nestle India said the estimated sales value of the stock in the market was worth around 2.1 billion rupees. It also has Maggi noodles and related products in its factories and distribution centres worth 1.1 billion rupees.</div><div> </div><div>(Agencies)</div>
