Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals: follow-up action with industry
Friday 21 May 2004
When the Board discussed the report of the Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals (EVM) on 8 May 2003 it agreed that, where food supplement products are currently recommending doses higher than the Safe Upper Levels or Guideline Levels agreed by the EVM, the Agency should take forward discussions with industry on reformulation and/or advisory label statements.
Officials have met the three major trade associations several times since June of last year and discussions are now finished for the time being. The discussions were constructive and we have managed to secure agreement for most of the nutrients where problems were identified.
The Agency's position, as well as that of the industry, is set out in the footnotes to the attached documents. For beta-carotene and manganese the issues will be revisited if relevant new evidence comes to light. For phosphorus the wording of the advisory statement will be reconsidered following receipt of advice from the COT.
This advice to industry was published on the Agency's website on Tuesday 18 May 2004 and reflects consumer advice already on the website.
Contacts
Rosemary Hignett
Tel: 020 7276 8178
Email: rosemary.hignett@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Diane Benford
Tel: 020 7276 8510
Email: diane.benford@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Vivien Lund
Tel: 020 7276 8169
Email: vivien.lund@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Food supplements: label advisory statements and suggested reformulations
This note introduces advice that applies to some food supplements containing high levels of vitamins and minerals. The advice covers advisory statements to be included on labels and, in a limited number of cases, suggests reformulation. The advice has been agreed by the Food Standards Agency and food supplements industry representatives following publication of the report of the UK�s Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals (EVM) in May 2003. The aim of the advice is to protect consumers by providing information which will alert them to the potential for adverse effects, and enable them to make informed choices.
The EVM was a group of independent experts established in 1998 to review the safety of food supplements containing high levels of vitamins and minerals. EVM�s membership was drawn from four existing advisory committees along with two experts nominated by consumer and industry organisations. Four observers to the group represented the main interest groups of consumers, the food and health food industries and complementary medicine.
The majority of food supplement products on the UK market contain amounts of vitamins and minerals that are well below the safe upper levels set by the EVM. However, a small number of products contain higher amounts, which could cause adverse effects in some individuals. These are some products containing vitamin C, iron, calcium, magnesium, nickel, beta-carotene, nicotinic acid, zinc, manganese, phosphorus, or vitamin B6. In these cases the Food Standards Agency considered that providing information to consumers is necessary to enable them to make informed choices, and embarked upon discussions with industry representatives with the objective of providing this information on product labels. The result of these successful discussions is the list of advisory label statements and, for three vitamins, suggested reformulations, attached as the Annex.
The recommendations in the Annex have been agreed on the basis of the scientific evidence considered by the EVM and may be amended in future in the light of new information. This approach is seen as an important element of the safety-based regulation of food supplements, as it demonstrates a risk management approach which both protects consumer health and enables informed consumer choice.
The Food Standards Agency will make this advice available on this website and will send it to the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority and other Member States in order to inform further EC discussions on safety-based regulation of food supplements in due course. The Council for Responsible Nutrition, the Health Food Manufacturers' Association, and the Proprietary Association of Great Britain will disseminate the advice and make it widely known to their memberships.
Food Standards Agency, Council for Responsible Nutrition, Health Food Manufacturers� Association, Proprietary Association of Great Britain, May 2004
Related links
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