Maggi noodles, a brand produced by the Indian arm of Swiss food corporation Nestlé, has been banned in India for 15 days from today after samples of the products were lifted and tested by the Food Safety Officers of India's health department.

The Food Safety Officers were acting on a communication about the safety of the brand they received from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

On carrying out laboratory tests, the Delhi government found 10 of the 13 lifted samples of Maggi noodle contained lead exceeding the prescribed limits.

Five samples of masala were also found to have monosodium glutamate without proper label declaration which is an offence under the category of misbranding, the government said.

Kerala Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob's office said an order had been issued to temporarily stop the distribution of Maggi noodles from its retail outlets in the state forthwith till there is clarity on the safety issue.

Although Nestlé India claimed it had got samples tested in an external laboratory as well as in-house and that the product was found "safe to eat", Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said he is not fully satisfied with the submission given by Nestlé to the government this morning.

The West Bengal Food department has convened a meeting tomorrow to take a view on the Maggi row.

Nestlé has already started to feel the effects of the ongoing controversy with shares of Nestlé India slumping over 10% since yesterday. The stock plunged 10.10% to Rs 6,119.40 on BSE. On NSE, it fell sharply by 10.2% to Rs 6,109.