Food Safety officials conducting a
surprise raid at a godown in Tirunelveli on Wednesday.
A team of officials of the
Department of Food Safety conducted raids on two places here on Wednesday and
seized Rs.1.30 lakh-worth “weight management and health drink products” being
marketed by Herbalife.
“Since Herbalife, the company
marketing a range of products as weight management and health drink products,
has not obtained the mandatory approval from the Food Safety Standards
Authority of India, New Delhi, for selling them as food in the Indian market,
we’ve seized them,” said Jegadish Chandra Bose, Designated Officer, Department
of Food Safety, who led the raid.
In the raid conducted in a godown
near Rathna Theatre, the officials seized Rs.1 lakh-worth Herbalife products
while another raid conducted at Pioneer Kumarasamy Nagar in Perumalpuram led to
the confiscation of Rs.30,000-worth products.
Dr. Bose, who is holding additional
charge of Tirunelveli district along with Tuticorin district, said the products
were being sold to the public under multi-level marketing system.
As the officials had collected
samples of these products to be sent for analysis, further action could be
taken based on the results.
Dr.Bose said regular brisk walking
and a diet chart designed by a qualified physician alone could prove to be a
credible weight management regimen.
“There is no shortcut for weight
loss as being promised by a few companies,” he said.
The Designated Officer also informed
that Herbalife, by regularly organising meetings in luxury hotels, was enticing
the public to sell its products. “All the products being marketed by this
company have been priced at thousands of rupees and hence the company follows
multi-level marketing strategy to push the products,” Dr.Bose added.
Food Safety Officers A.R.
Sankaralingam, Kalimuthu, Ibrahim and Kaliyanandi conducted the raids.
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