FDA on lookout for tobacco violations in Mississippi

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Nearly 500 retailers in Mississippi had to submit to Food and Drug Administration inspections concerning alleged tobacco sales to minors, the FDA said Friday.

The FDA said it visited 493 retailers and issued 25 warning letters over the last three months using state inspectors the agency had commissioned. Mississippi was the first state to participate in the FDA’s State Enforcement Program, which started in the summer and is designed to enforce provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 and implement regulations.

“Retailers play a role in protecting our kids from becoming the next generation of Americans to die prematurely from tobacco-related disease,” FDA Center for Tobacco Products director Lawrence Deyton said. “We are providing retail establishments with the information needed to comply with the law.”