Product record
Ahaglow Face Wash Gel (Torrent): batch failed the mercury test (Kerala, Apr 2025)
Last checked 10 October 2026
CDSCO's April 2025 alert lists Ahaglow Face Wash Gel, batch AHA202, from Torrent Pharmaceuticals, as failing the mercury test at Kerala's drug-testing laboratory; no recall, licence action or company response has been published.
- Classification
- Declared Not of Standard Quality (NSQ)
- Decided by
- Kerala State Drugs Control Department (state lab); listed by CDSCO
- Reference
- CDSCO NSQ alert, April 2025, state lab list
- Latest action
- 1 April 2025
- Last checked
- 10 October 2026
Photo: Woman applying cream to hand.jpg by Moose Photos (CC0). All photo credits.
CDSCO: Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) alerts, public portal (monthly lists from state and central labs)
Scope. A record here does not by itself mean a product or company is unsafe or banned today. Regulatory actions can apply to one batch, one formulation, one period or one state. Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date. How we label records.
Below: Blacklisted's explanationWe organise and explain what the document says. The document above is the authority.
Key facts
- Batch
- AHA202
- Maker
- Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd
- Test failed
- Mercury content (limit 1 ppm, Rule 39(5), Cosmetics Rules 2020)
- Lab
- Drugs Testing Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram
Among the Kerala results carried in CDSCO's April 2025 'not of standard quality' alert is Ahaglow Face Wash Gel, batch AHA202, manufactured by Torrent Pharmaceuticals. The entry records a failure on the test for mercury. Ahaglow is a glycolic-acid face wash sold mainly on dermatologists' advice; as a wash-off skin product it is a cosmetic under the Cosmetics Rules 2020 and subject to the 1 ppm mercury limit in Rule 39(5).
The alert gives the result and not the measured value. Torrent, as the licensed manufacturer, could ask for the sample to be retested at the Central Cosmetics Laboratory; no outcome of any such request, and no company statement, has been published. No other Ahaglow product appears in CDSCO's alerts from January 2024 to August 2026.
What this means for you
One batch, not the brand
A failed lab test names a batch number and the lab that tested it. It does not mean every pack of that product is affected. Check the batch on your pack against the one in the record.
A dermatology brand in a cosmetics list
Ahaglow is sold through dermatologists and chemists, but a face wash is a cosmetic, so it is tested against the Cosmetics Rules and listed with other cosmetics.
Report what you find
CDSCO asks the public to report Indian-made cosmetics to the State Drugs Controller and imported ones to the Drugs Controller General of India at cosmetics@cdsco.nic.in. Keep the pack and the bill.
This is a record of official orders, not medical advice. Do not stop a prescribed medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.
Common questions
Is Ahaglow banned?
No. One batch of the face wash gel failed a mercury test in April 2025. Nothing further is on record.
Official sources and primary records
- Regulator
- G.S.R. 56(E), 19 Jan 2017: mercury limits in cosmetics (rules 135-A and 145-D, Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945)GazetteMinistry of Health and Family Welfare · 19 January 2017