Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — A total of 49 food and drug outlets and establishments were shut down for committing various violations within a month. This follows a total of 15,302 inspection raids carried out by teams from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) during the month of March.

More than 27 million packages of illegal pharmaceutical and cosmetic products were seized during the raids, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

SFDA inspectors discovered 2,049 violations in firms, shops and facilities dealing with food and drugs, medical and cosmetic devices, pesticides and fodder.

They also found 63 establishments operating without a license, and stopped nine production lines at these facilities.

The quantities seized during the inspection raids include 548,811 kilograms of food, 407 liters of water, 16,067,281 medical products, 2,534,963 packages of pharmaceutical products, and 8,664,704 packages of cosmetic products.

The inspection teams seized 108 consignments, out of a total of 28,670 consignments that were imported to the Kingdom through the border check posts.