Bengaluru, 12 July

Enforcement officers of the Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration department suspended 133 drug licences and cancelled 20 drug licences in June for violations of the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, officials have said.

The move was initiated after the officials concerned conducted 2,544 inspections over the last month, they said.

According to the department, drug-testing laboratories in City, Hubballi and Ballari analysed 1,333 samples in June. Among those, 1,292 samples were declared as “Standard Quality” and 41 as “Not of Standard Quality”.

From April to June, the enforcement officers filed a total of 81 cases in courts against firms that violated the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Rules thereunder, the department said.

The department has ensured that “Not of Standard Quality” drugs worth more than Rs 40 lakh were recalled from the market and seized.

A special drive was conducted across the blood centres in the state and a total of 122 such centres were inspected.

“Based on the various violations observed, show-cause notices were issued to 44 blood centres and compliance letters were issued to 80 blood centres,” the department said in a statement issued on Friday.

According to the statement, in compliance with the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, food safety, quality and hygiene aspects were inspected across the state, covering 1,557 street-food vendors, in June.

Notices were issued to 406 establishments where violations were identified and fines totalling Rs 44,500 were imposed on the spot, the statement added.