FSSAI proposes norms for nutraceuticals, ayurvedic products

Aiming to check mis-labelling of 'health supplements', Food safety watchdog, FSSAI has come out with gazetted regulations proposing to ban the sale of such products as 'medicines'. At the same time, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has also framed regulations for products based on ayurveda, sidhha, unani and other traditional health systems. The regulator has proposed to fix the permissible limits of various ingredients used in the products, which are based on traditional health systems. 

"Every package of food or health supplements shall carry the information on the label... the words FOOD or HEALTH SUPPLEMENT... the term 'NOT FOR MEDICINAL USE' shall be prominently written on the label," as per a draft order issued by FSSAI. 

Under the new regulations proposed by the authority, companies can not claim that their nutraceuticals and health supplement products are for therapeutic and curative purposes. FSSAI has also proposed the maximum usage levels for cow's milk, buffalo's milk, camel's milk, ghee, curd, butter, honey, gold, gold foil, silver, pearl in ayurveda, siddha and unani ingredients based products. The limit has been fixed as maximum usage levels per day for use as a health or food supplements which are based on ayurveda, siddha and unani. 

The regulator will finalise these regulations after receiving comments from all stakeholders on the draft note. FSSAI said that the benefits of speciality foods containing ingredients based on ayurveda, unani and siddha and other traditional health systems of India, should be shown by science based evidence. Meanwhile industry body Assocham had released a knowledge paper suggesting that FSSAI should come up with safety norms for nutraceuticals and dietary supplements. 

In the paper, the industry body said about 60-70 percent supplements in the nutraceuticals market, which has potential to grow to USD 12.2 billion in the next five years, are fake and such unregistered and unapproved products should be recalled. India accounts for 1.5 percent of the global nutraceuticals market. Heinz, Kellogg's, Nestle, Hormel, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals are key players in this segment.