Thane, Apr 11 (PTI) The Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) raided a cosmetic products manufacturing firm and a marketing company at Bhiwandi in Thane district, and seized merchandise worth Rs 3.47 lakh, officials said on Friday.

The FDA conducted the raid at V D Healthcare’s premises on April 3 based on the information received by the intelligence branch of the government agency’s Mumbai office that the company was producing cosmetics illegally as it did not have a valid licence, an official release said.

Acting on the inputs, Assistant Commissioner of the FDA’s intelligence branch V R Ravi, Assistant Commissioner FDA Ratnagiri and drugs inspector (Thane) Shubhangi Bhujbal jointly executed the operation, it said.

During the inspection, the authorities found that the company was manufacturing ‘N M Rogan Badam Shirin’ by making claims about its cosmetic benefits, and it also possessed a registration number allotted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), raising concerns about its true nature and regulatory compliance, it said.

The authorities collected the samples of the product for testing. The remaining stock of the product, along with labeling and packaging materials for other undeclared cosmetics found at the site, were seized by the FDA team, the release said.

The FDA team then visited the premises of Narendra Marketing company, where the authorities seized the entire stock of two cosmetic products, ‘N M Onion Hair Oil’ and ‘N M Multani Mati Powder’, and collected its samples for analysis.

The raids were conducted under the directions of FDA Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar and others, the release said.

The seized products will be subjected to rigorous testing to ascertain their quality and safety standards, it added. PTI COR NP