Bollywood stars warned over 'pan masala' brand ads

Actors asked to remove them from social media accounts

Three top Bollywood actors, including Shah Rukh ?Khan, must stop appearing in surrogate advertisements of a brand mostly associated with a banned betel nut product, India's Maharashtra state has said in a warning as it intensifies a food safety drive.

The new food safety chief of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, has suspended licences of popular local restaurants as well as foreign outlets for poor hygiene, making him hugely popular on social media. Last week, the state shut ?four Domino's stores and 12 warehouses of big grocery giants.

In a warning to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff, made public over the weekend, the state said the actors were promoting Vimal's cardamoms but the brand is associated largely with a prohibited betel nut mix - called pan masala - sold in tiny Rs3.5 ($0.0366) packs and considered harmful, especially when mixed with tobacco.

Industry estimates show India's pan masala market was worth an estimated $5 billion last year. Health experts and doctors have said that is it a leading cause of oral fibrosis that often progresses to oral cancer.

Representatives of Khan, Devgn and Shroff did not respond to requests for ?comment, ?and neither did Vishnu & Company Trademarks, the company which owns the brand Vimal."Such use of the brand name and identity may have the effect of promoting, reinforcing or maintaining consumer recognition of the prohibited" product, the state Food and Drug Administration said in the notice, seeking an explanation from the actors within 15 days. The Maharashtra authorities asked the three actors ?to remove the advertisements from their social media accounts, not cooperate with any further broadcast and provide details of their endorsement agreements with the manufacturer.