A London company has been instructed to destroy a large consignment of illegal skin-lightening products by Thurrock Council’s trading standards team.
The team was brought in when port health officers at the London Container Terminal, Port of Tilbury, discovered the creams during an examination of food and soft drinks in a container.
Trading standards stopped the consignment entering the country and have instructed the company – based in Southwark – to destroy all 1,063 illegal skin lightening creams from Nigeria.
Public Protection portfolio holder at Thurrock, Cllr Jane Pothecary, said: “I believe this is one of the largest consignments stopped by our team this year.
“The creams, which contain Hydroquinone, something banned from cosmetics in the EU as unsafe, were not declared on the import documentation when the container was checked on 21 September.
“This is yet another example of the great work Thurrock Council trading standards is doing on behalf of the National Trading Standards Board, helping keep unsafe products off the shelves of stores across the region.
“Trading standards will continue to stop consignments of all illegal and unsafe products at Thurrock’s ports.”
