The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered global nutrition company Herbalife to stop sales of 15 products and recall the stock from the market, after officials found that the firm had failed to renew its product-approval licence.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India issues the licence. "Yes, we have taken the action, but I cannot comment further," said state FDA commissioner Harshadeep Kamble.
Sources in the FDA said that product-approval licence of Herbalife's 15 food supplements had expired in December last year. The company had been asked to stop the sales of the products across the country, the sources said.
A Herbalife spokesperson said that the company had received approval for its products only for a year. It has applied for a renewal of the same. "...Herbalife submitted letters seeking renewals and are awaiting a response from FSSAI for the same," the official said.
Two Herbalife distributors in Mumbai said that they had not received any intimation for halting sales from the company's India headquarters in Bangalore. "I have been associated with the company for the past 10 years. All our products carry the approval sticker. We have not been intimated regarding the notice so far," said a distributor in Vile Parle.
An FDA official said that the agency received a tip-off about the expired licences. "We conducted an inspection and found that the multinational company had continued to sell the products even after their licences had expired. We have sent a notice to the company asking them to immediately discontinue the sales of the food supplements and also recall the stock."
The 15 products include multivitamin tablets, and protein powders and shakes. The FDA does not plan to test the products' quality as FSSAI grants licence to only standardised products.
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