PANJIM: Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration has issued orders preventing the sale of banned products such as gutka or pan masala (containing tobacco nicotine) and scented tobacco as final products in the State.
Food business operators have been informed that dealing in food articles like gutka, pan masala (containing tobacco) and scented tobacco, is prohibited under the provisions of the “Goa Public Health (Amendment) Act, 2005”.
The ban prohibits the manufacture for sale, selling, distribution, storing, or conveying of food articles containing tobacco or tobacco extracts, a statement issued by FDA states. Manufacturers/vendors have also been cautioned to avoid selling pan masala (without tobacco) with flavoured chewing tobacco in separate sachets but often conjoint and sold together.
“This is essentially that consumers can buy pan masala and flavoured chewing tobacco and mix them both to consume. Hence, instead of the earlier ‘ready to consume mixes’, chewing tobacco companies are selling gutkha in twin packs to be mixed as one. Anyone found indulging in this practice will also face punitive action,” an FDA official told Herald.
