The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department has detected a consignment of cosmetics in the warehouse of Nykaa in Mumbai and has seized the goods. Accordint to a report in the Economic Times, the department received a tip off following which a search was conducted in the warehouse. The value of goods seized is reportedly Rs 88,000.

The significant part of this search and seizure is that the products, lipstick, gel eyeliner, highlighter and other cosmetic products are supposedly manufactured by Bellezza Italia, based out of Virar in Mumbai. The products bear a manufacturing date of June 2019, while this company had surrendered its manufacturing licence in May 2018. This could either mean that these are counterfeit products, or someone has altered the manufacturing date, both punishable offences. If the firm itself had made them after having surrendered its licence, then that is also an offence under section 18-c of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940.

The FDA has now advised Nykaa to be cautious while permitting products to be sold on its website. The products have to be checked for their genuineness before being allowed to be sold to the public. In this particular case, Bellezza products are not available in the offline market; it’s sold only online.    

Nykaa has since put out a statement in which it has said it came to know of the licence surrender by Bellezza only from FDA.

“Nykaa is a multi-brand platform with over a thousand brands manufactured in India and internationally. The FDA brought it to our attention that the manufacturing licence of one of our partner brands had expired. We delisted this brand and all its products from our website and app with immediate effect. We expect all brands registered to follow policies and guidelines set by authorities,” an Economic Times report quotes the company as saying in a statement.

Nykaa has also said it will strengthen its internal quality control policies to screen products that do not conform.