The AAP government in Delhi on Wednesday announced plans to test all noodle brands available in the city after imposing a 15-day ban on Nestle’s Maggi Noodles due to presence of “excessive lead.” City health minister Satyendar Jain said orders have been issued to lift samples of all other noodle brands available in the market and test them in the government laboratories. The Delhi government has limited scope of its tests to packaged noodles and is silent on popular packaged snacks such as crisps, wafers etc. City officials said that samples of other packaged noodles will be collected from the market and the government will then take action based on the laboratory reports. The city administration was not satisfied with Nestle India’s explanation on presence of “lead beyond permissible limits” in the noodle samples. “As per rules, permissible level of lead should be 2.5, but it was found in the range of 3.54 to 4.59 in the Maggi samples. Officials of Nestle India met us and gave their submission, but we are not fully satisfied with their submission,” Mr Jain said. “The government has put a ban on Maggi Noodles for 15 days. We have asked Nestle India to withdraw Maggi stocks within 15 days. We will carry out lab testing of fresh stocks and a decision will be taken thereafter,” Mr Jain added. Mr Jain said the AAP government will file a case against Nestle India in court as per provisions of the Food Adulteration Act and will “not compromise” on the issues related to health safety. Also, a 2012 Centre for Science and Environment study revealed that fast food, including instant noodles, contained high levels of sugars, salt and trans fats. “High levels of trans fats are a public health concern due to its association with chronic heart diseases. The trans fat content was highest in French fries (8.1 per cent of total fat), followed by instant noodles (4.6 per cent of total fat) and potato chips (4.5 per cent of total fat). There should be regulations to reduce trans fats in junk food,” the CSE study had said. The study had also found highest salt content in instant noodles. “Similarly, high intake of salt is associated with hypertension. The salt content was highest in instant noodles (3.7 g per 100 g of sample). Consumption of a packet of instant noodles, therefore, will cover about half of the daily salt quota. Salt content was not given by companies on the label,” the study said, which was conducted on two top instant noodle brands, Maggi and Top Ramen.