Mumbai

NESTLE SA will pull its Maggi instant noodles from stores across India, withdrawing one of the country's most popular snacks after weeks of damaging headlines triggered by regulators' reports that some packs contained excess lead.

In what has become India's most significant packaged foods scare for nearly a decade, Nestle reiterated on Friday that its noodles were safe. But after coming under fire for what domestic media said was a failure to react swiftly and decisively, the group said that it would pull the product regardless, more than two weeks after food inspectors first reported their findings.