Mumbai, August 16: State food safety regulators in Maharashtra have initiated formal proceedings against actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Tiger Shroff over their media appearances promoting a mouth freshener product. The Food and Drug Administration affirmed that using identical brand identity markers for non-tobacco products can mislead consumers and indirectly promote prohibited items.
The enforcement measure forms part of broader inspections conducted across Greater Mumbai and other districts targeting food safety violations and prohibited substances.
“The issue was particularly serious because the advertisement used the same brand identity associated with Vimal Pan Masala,” the FDA Greater Mumbai division stated while seeking responses from the artists.
Regulatory officials requested the endorsers to discontinue participating in the promotional material across digital and broadcast channels while the inquiry remains active. The actors have been provided a two-week window to present documentation concerning their endorsement contracts and product verification steps.
The legal scrutiny follows previous public debates surrounding surrogate promotional campaigns, which led fellow actor Akshay Kumar to publicly step back from similar endorsements in 2022 after consumer criticism. State authorities maintained that statutory standards governing food advertisements strictly prohibit ambiguous representations that circumvent public health directives.
