Chandigarh, July 30 -- The Haryana Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has busted a counterfeit pharmaceutical-grade chemical racket in Faridabad.

Additional chief secretary (health) Sumita Misra said that the seized consignment could have posed a life-threatening risk to consumers of cough syrups and other pharmaceutical formulations. Propylene glycol is widely used as an excipient in the manufacture of cough syrups and several other pharmaceutical formulations, making its quality and purity critical for patient safety.

Misra said the crackdown comes under the department's zero tolerance policy against the manufacture, distribution and sale of spurious and counterfeit medicines.

She said that to the best of the department's knowledge,...