RIYADH: The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) carried out 131,935 inspections of establishments under its supervision in 2020, a 157 percent increase on the previous year.

The authority stepped up its inspections in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of the inspections, the SFDA closed 773 establishments specializing in food items, water, juices, pesticides, fodders and herbs, pharmaceutical and beauty cosmetics.

It also stopped 140 production lines across different establishments and issued arrest orders to 882 establishments running unlicensed activities.

The authority issued 22,016 violations and handled 6,856 complaints.

The authority said that about 1.5 million kg of products were imported into the Kingdom and 5,767 kg of products rejected, with 11,845 samples referred to laboratories for analysis.

© Saudi Press Agency 2021