FDA: More than half of hotel toiletry suppliers not properly registered

Travellers and vacationers may want to bring their own shampoo when staying at a local hotel or inn overnight—you never know what could be in those little bottles in your hotel's bathroom. It turns out that more than half of suppliers of hotel toiletries are not registered with the Food and Drug Administration, the agency disclosed Monday.

In an advisory, the FDA said this stemmed from a random monitoring of toiletries in tourist establishments last July.

"Out of the 58 suppliers (that supply toiletries to 102 hotels inspected last July), 31 or 54 percent do not have a valid License to Operate (LTO) from the FDA but still continue to supply toiletries to hotels," FDA head Kenneth Hartigan-Go said in FDA Advisory No. 2013-040.

"The data...should aid the Department of Tourism in granting accreditation to tourist establishments," he added.

Hartigan-Go said on the one hand, these hotels using toiletries from unregistered suppliers "may be advised to demand documentation from their suppliers so that they will be assured that the products they will acquire are notified with the FDA."

On the other hand, he said "appropriate action" awaits establishments found out to be operating without a valid License to Operate (LTO) and selling cosmetic products without notifying FDA.

Those lacking in some requirements may get a Report of Violation and will have 30 working days within which to comply with FDA rules and regulations, he added.

In the monitoring, Hartigan-Go noted only 17 or 29 percent of the hotel toiletries' suppliers operate with a valid LTO.

Also, he said 10 hotels were unable to identify their suppliers. The rest of the hotel toiletries suppliers (21 percent) provided mislabeled (no printed brand names and other information in the packaging) products to the hotels.

"This may also be due to hotels themselves repackaging the toiletries from their suppliers with hotel names, masking any information from its source," he said.

Hartigan-Go said the FDA's field regulatory officers in July 2013 randomly monitored 102 tourist establishments such as hotels, resorts, and tourist inns.

"The mandate of the DOH-FDA to ensure product safety and quality for the protection of public health and welfare has impact on tourism as well as on trade," he added.

Out of the 102 hotels inspected by the FDA, Hartigan-Go said inspectors found toiletries used in these hotels came from 58 suppliers.

On the average, one manufacturer-distributor supplies toiletries to at least two hotels, with one supplying toiletries to as many as 21 hotels nationwide.

Advice

Hartigan-Go advised the public to remain vigilant about the products they use and see in the market as well as in hotels.

"These hotel toiletries are considered health products that need FDA notification, consistent with the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive (ACD) Product Notification implemented by the Center for Cosmetic Regulation and Research (CCRR)," he said.

He added consumers are encouraged to report products that are not notified by sending an email to FDA at report@fda.gov.ph. — VC, GMA News