Product record
Mamaearth Vitamin C Daily Glow cream: batch failed the mercury test (Kerala, Apr 2025)
Last checked 10 October 2026
CDSCO's April 2025 alert lists Mamaearth Vitamin C Daily Glow Light Moisturising Cream, batch AM4J160, made for Honasa Consumer by VA Life Sciences at Parwanoo, as not conforming to the Cosmetics Rules 2020 on the mercury test at Kerala's drug-testing laboratory; it is a batch finding and the product has not been recalled or banned.
- 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 Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date.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
- AM4J160
- Maker
- VA Life Sciences, Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh (contract manufacturer); brand owner Honasa Consumer Ltd
- Test failed
- Mercury, against Rule 39(5) of the Cosmetics Rules 2020 (1 ppm limit)
- Lab
- Drugs Testing Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, under Operation Soundarya
- Company response
- None found on record; the product remains on sale
The April 2025 'not of standard quality' alert from CDSCO lists a single Mamaearth product: Vitamin C Daily Glow Light Moisturising Cream, batch AM4J160. The entry records that the sample 'does not conform to Cosmetics Rules 2020' on the test for mercury. It was sampled in Kerala during Operation Soundarya and tested at the state drug-testing laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram, which the same month also flagged Torrent's Ahaglow face wash for mercury and an Alograce cream for lead.
The manufacturer named is VA Life Sciences of Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh, which makes the product under contract for Honasa Consumer Ltd, Mamaearth's owner. That matters for what can follow: a failed state lab test gives the Himachal licensing authority grounds to act on the factory's licence, and gives the company the right to ask for a retest at the central laboratory. Neither a licence action nor a retest result has been published.
Mamaearth's other products do not appear in any CDSCO alert from January 2024 to August 2026. The brand record on this site says the same.
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.
Contract manufacturing
The pack names Mamaearth; the licence belongs to the factory at Parwanoo. State action, if any, would be against the manufacturer's licence, which is why the alert names VA Life Sciences.
What to check
The batch number is printed on the crimp of the tube or the base of the jar. Only AM4J160 is on the list.
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 Mamaearth banned in India?
No. One batch of one cream failed a mercury test in April 2025. There is no recall, licence action or ban on record for the brand.
Official sources and primary records
- Regulator
- Kerala: 12 establishments caught selling fake cosmetics including soaps and creams with harmful chemicalsNewsAsianet Newsable · 10 February 2025
- 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