The children's "poison cream" incident, which once caused turmoil in public opinion, has recently ushered in the final result.
On January 2, according to the administrative punishment information released by the Guangzhou Baiyun District Municipal Supervision Bureau, Guangzhou Zhonghao Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhonghao Bio") was fined a total of 1.1005 million yuan for using the prohibited raw material "tacrolimus" to produce red snail infant cream, Xingmanor Zhen Cream (children's type), Xiaohua baby cream and other products.
A regulator who did not want to be named reminded that the "red snail baby cream" incident is only the tip of the iceberg, and the regulatory authorities from the state to the local government have carried out cosmetics risk monitoring work in multiple channels and directions to find out the problems and potential risks of illegal addition of cosmetics.
Antibiotics for children's cosmetics
The fine is more than one million
Let's briefly review the children's "poison cream" incident:
On July 3, 2023, "Daddy Evaluation" published articles and videos on WeChat, Weibo, Douyin and other social platforms, exposing the "Red Snail Infant First Cream Illegally Added Tacrolimus" produced by Zhonghao Biotech, which attracted widespread attention.
In response to the questioning of the "Daddy Evaluation", Zhonghao Biotech issued the "Solemn Statement on Red Snail Products" on the same day, pointing out that the Daddy Evaluation "made something out of nothing, fabricated facts, and did not know where the tested products came from", and resolutely denied the prohibited additions.
According to public information, "tacrolimus" is an antibiotic for the treatment of moderate or severe dermatitis, and long-term exposure to skin care products containing antibiotics can easily cause symptoms such as contact dermatitis and antibiotic allergies, and drug residues may also lead to allergic reactions. China's Safety and Technical Standards for Cosmetics (2015 Edition) clearly stipulates that antibiotics shall not be added to cosmetics as raw materials and components in production.
At that time, the country had not yet introduced the test method of "tacrolimus" in cosmetics. At a critical moment, the official website of the State Food and Drug Administration issued an announcement on July 6 on the "Supplementary Testing Method for Cosmetics for the Determination of Tacrolimus and Pimecrolimus in Cosmetics". In other words, just 48 hours after the "poisonous cream" incident was exposed, the regulator completed the drafting and formulation, drafting, reviewing, approving, and releasing of the "test method". According to the analysis of industry insiders, the regulator's rapid response to the loopholes in supplementary regulations is unprecedented, which shows the importance attached to the illegal addition of children's cosmetics.
Subsequently, the State Food and Drug Administration deployed the verification of the product across the country, and the Guangdong Provincial Food and Drug Administration ordered Zhonghao Biotech to suspend production and operation, recall the above products, and file a case for investigation.
Now, with the final decision of the Guangzhou Baiyun District Municipal Supervision Bureau, Zhonghao Biotech has banned the addition of a case:
According to the administrative penalty letter, Zhonghao Biotech did not organize the production of cosmetics "Red Snail Infant Cream" in accordance with the requirements of the cosmetics production quality management standards, with illegal gains of 50,000 yuan and a value of 72,801.78 yuan, and its production of "Xingmanor Zhen Cream (Children's Type)" and "Xiaohua Infant Cream" were also detected with prohibited raw materials "Tacrolimus", with illegal gains of 15,500 yuan and a value of 25,577.7 yuan.
The Guangzhou Baiyun District Municipal Supervision Bureau believes that Zhonghao Bio's use of prohibited raw materials to produce infant cosmetics is in line with Article 12 of the "Rules for the Application of Administrative Discretion Regulated by the Guangdong Provincial Drug Administration", and is given a heavier punishment. Because the act violated Articles 6 and 30 of the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics, 15,500 yuan of illegal gains were confiscated and a fine of 655,000 yuan was imposed.
At the same time, Zhonghao Biotech also had illegal behaviors such as failing to establish and implement a cosmetics production record system, failing to implement a purchase inspection record system, and failing to organize production in accordance with the requirements of cosmetics production quality management practices.
To sum up, the Guangzhou Baiyun District Municipal Supervision Bureau finally imposed the following penalties: ordered to immediately correct the above-mentioned illegal acts, and imposed a warning, 2) confiscation of 1 box of red snail infant first cream, 3) confiscation of illegal gains of 65,500 yuan, and 4) a fine of 1,035,000 yuan.
Industry "Habitual Offenders"
All 218 of its products were "cancelled"
According to the national enterprise credit information publicity system, Zhonghao Biotech was established on March 16, 2017 with a registered capital of 1 million yuan, and its business scope includes cosmetics wholesale, cosmetics retail, production and sales of Class I medical devices, Class II medical devices and disinfectants, and the legal representative is Fang Bo.
As early as August 25, 2023, Zhonghao Biotech had a thunderstorm - for relocating to the production of "Duka Baby Lotion" and "Red Snail Baby Lotion" without permission, it was regarded as engaging in cosmetics production activities without permission, violating the provisions of Article 27, Paragraph 1 of the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics", and was fined 110,000 yuan by the Guangzhou Baiyun District Municipal Supervision Bureau.
After another inquiry, the "Red Snail Infant Cream" that exploded this time was recorded and produced by Guangzhou Henglan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Henglan Biotechnology"). In October 2022, Henglan Biotech was found to have banned substances "clobetasol propionate", "halobetasol propionate" and "cyproheptadine" banned in cosmetics due to the production of "Baby Beixuan Baby Skin Cream" and "Infant Health Prebiotic Body Lotion", and the "Cosmetics Production License" was revoked and banned for 10 years. 172 products of Henglan Biologics, including children's cosmetics, facial masks, eye creams, etc., have also been "cancelled".
This is the first case in which the person in charge of production in the cosmetics industry was banned after the introduction of the new regulations, but under the top punishment, the operation of "old wine in new bottles" was still staged. Douyin blogger @老dad evaluation - Lao Bai pointed out that Mo Zengqing was the legal representative of Zhonghao Biology, and after being banned from business, he was replaced by other legal persons, and Zhonghao Biology continued to produce and sell the products cancelled by Henglan Biology, including "Red Snail Infant First Cream".
Now, the "vest" of Zhonghao Biotech has been completely uncovered. "Cosmetics Observation" searched the official website of the State Drug Administration and found that the above-mentioned "Red Snail Infant Cream" had been "cancelled" on July 13 last year, and it is worth noting that a number of infant care products under Zhonghao Biotech were also "cancelled" on the same day, involving 46 products such as "Xingxiupu Moisturizing Moisturizing Cream", "Xingxiupu Cream (Baby)", "Xiaohua Baby Cream" and "Duka Zhen Skin Cream".
Taken from the official website of the National Medical Products Administration
"The Tip of the Iceberg"
2024 Regulatory Hammer "Hormone Baby Cream"
In fact, from "big-headed dolls" to "poisonous creams", the illegal addition of hormones and antibiotics to children's cosmetics has always been a stubborn disease in the industry.
Article 12 of the Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Children's Cosmetics clearly points out that cosmetics registrants, record holders and entrusted manufacturers shall strictly implement the material purchase inspection record system, and the enterprises shall carry out inspections of relevant items when deemed necessary after evaluation, so as to avoid bringing in prohibited raw materials such as hormones and anti-infective drugs or substances that may endanger human health through raw materials and packaging materials that are in direct contact with cosmetics.
Excerpt from the Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Children's Cosmetics
A senior person in the industry pointed out that most of the prohibited raw materials are added artificially, depending on the behavior of the raw material supplier or the behavior of the factory, "no matter where the source is, a large number of cosmetics are implicated."
And "fast onset" may be the main reason why companies take risks and prohibit the addition of hormones and antibiotics. The person in charge of a children's brand regulation bluntly said that infants and young children are prone to eczema, diaper rash and other problems, and it is difficult to care, while hormones and antibiotics have low costs and remarkable effects, so they are illegally added to children's cosmetics by some companies.
As he said, on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, "Red Snail Baby First Cream" is praised by many parents for its "immediate effect on dealing with baby eczema".
In order to cure the foci of the development of the cosmetics industry and clean up the cosmetics market environment, the regulator has struck hard.
A few days ago, Blonde Rabi Women's and Infant Products Co., Ltd., known as the "first share of mother and baby", was fined 2.6 million yuan for the production of Babby Labi egg butter was found to contain progesterone. The Safety and Technical Specifications for Cosmetics (2015 Edition) clearly states that 7 components, including progesterone, are sex hormones and are prohibited from being added to cosmetics.
In addition, according to incomplete statistics from "Cosmetics Observation", since the implementation of the new regulations, there have been 4 cases of maximum penalties involving children's cosmetics, of which 3 cases involve prohibited additions, and the companies involved have been revoked and banned for 10 years, while the company legal person has been banned for life.
Li Jincong, founder of the cosmetics prohibited word network, said that manufacturers should attach great importance to the issue of "raw material safety" and put an end to illegal additions, especially children's cosmetics.
The above-mentioned regulator, who did not want to be named, revealed that the 2024 cosmetics regulatory trend can be summarized as "active screening, and hitting as soon as it emerges", that is, focusing on freckle whitening, acne, children's cosmetics, hair dyeing cosmetics and other key products, with children's/hair dye production enterprises, commissioned production enterprises, urban-rural junction business enterprises, online sales platforms, etc. as the key focus objects.
It is reported that at present, the risk monitoring of the country and provinces has covered all categories of cosmetics, all platforms (Douyin, Kuaishou, Taobao, Jingdong, Vipshop, etc.), online and offline simultaneously, "from the complaint and reporting platform, the national cosmetics adverse reaction monitoring system, and the source information of public opinion monitoring are more and more valued by the regulatory authorities, and the regulatory authorities are responding more and more quickly, and the preliminary results can be issued within 24 hours."
This is true, just today (January 8), the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "Notice on the Detection of Prohibited Raw Materials in 6 Batches of Cosmetics (No. 2 of 2024)", of which 3 batches are prohibited for children's cosmetics, including "Baicuining Baby Moisturizing and Repairing Cream (batch number HLFC2601)" produced by Guangzhou Henglan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and "Love Nothing Baby Herbal Skin Cream (batch number 221004-1B)" produced by Jiangsu Jiaoyan Barbie Cosmetics Co., Ltd. , and Shanghai Zhenxian Cosmetics Co., Ltd.'s "Nuobixing Baby Cream (batch number Z3A0701)".
There is no doubt that the supervision is becoming stricter, the quality and safety of children's cosmetics is the top priority, and the illegal addition of prohibited substances is an untouchable red line.
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