Maharashtra FDA issues notice to 2 e-commerce portals for delivering banned tobacco products

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a notice to two top online e-commerce portals after its food inspectors were able to place an order and get deliveries of flavoured and scented tobacco from the shopping apps.

Scented and flavoured tobacco is banned for sale, manufacture and distribution in Maharashtra since 2012. Between December 17 and 28, FDA food inspectors placed multiple orders of tobacco products on Flipkart and Amazon, and the deliveries were made between December 20 and 29. Officials said they purchased eight suparis and various scented tobacco from six brands on the online portals. Once deliveries were made, the FDA sent notices to the online shopping app.

“We are going to take legal action against the two,” FDA Commissioner Abhimanyu Kale told The Indian Express.