Panaji, June 6 (IANS): Goa assembly Speaker Rajendra Arlekar on Saturday said the Maggi controversy was only the "tip of the iceberg" and actually a part of a larger conspiracy hatched by multinational corporations against India.

Arlekar, a former president of the state Bharatiya Janata Party, stated this in his latest Facebook post on Saturday.

The post came a day after Goa's Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) sent Maggi samples manufactured and sold in Goa for testing a third time to a laboratory outside Goa, on the instructions of the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).

"Time to rise and stand up against the malpractices of these MNCs who have been defiantly playing with the health and life of Indians for many years. Nestle is just a small tip of a big conspiracy," Arlekar said on Facebook.

FSSAI has ordered Nestle to withdraw all nine variants of Maggi noodles from shops across the country after tests conducted in various states showed more than the stipulated traces of MSG and lead in the product.