Since 1994, the supplement market has witnessed tremendous growth. This article will tell you what the Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) has commented on the FDA’s (Food and Drug Administration) docket concerning “Responsible Innovation in Dietary Supplements,” which is so important for dietary supplements merchants, and not only.
Dietary Supplement Merchants Must Know
Let’s start with the term “dietary supplement.” Congress gave its definition of the term in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. So, this is a product that contains a “dietary ingredient” and is consumed by mouth. It serves as a supplement to your diet.
These “dietary ingredients” may include:
- Amino acids
- Herbs or other botanicals
- Minerals
- Vitamins
- Substances such as enzymes, organ tissues, glandulars, and metabolites
- Extracts or concentrates
These products can be available in the form of tablets, capsules, soft gels, gelcaps, liquids, or powders, as well as a bar. They can’t be sold without information on their label stating that these are products can be used as conventional food or items of a meal or diet.
Consumers taking dietary supplements should be assured that they’re consuming safe, well-manufactured, and accurately labeled products. Innovative solutions in the marketplace mustn’t be applied at the expense of health. These products must be deprived of any damage to health or safety concerns.
By the way, on August 14, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) released the final amendments to the rules concerning how the “uninspected, inedible products, such as pet food” in USDA registered facilities must be prepared and handled.
As for dietary supplement merchants, you should take the time to find ta respectable merchant services provider like eMerchantBroker.com to work with. EMB, considered the #1 high risk processor in the U.S., is rated A by Card Payment Options. Moreover, EMB is ranked as the “Best All-Around High Risk Merchant Account Provider” ranked by ValuePenguin.
eMerchantBroker.com is committed to offering the cheapest rates and the fastest application to merchants of any type and size. By the way, EMB is also a reputable business funding provider that works both with easy- and hard-to-approve merchants.
Pew’s Comments on FDA Oversight
As you know, the FDA is the regulatory body for both finished dietary supplement products and dietary ingredients. The administration uses a different regulation set for dietary supplements as compared to the one used for “conventional” foods and drug products.
As for Pew, this is an independent, nonpartisan research and policy organization. Pew is focused on public health by assuring the safety and quality of dietary supplements.
Pew has recently released its comments on the FDA oversight of dietary supplement ingredients by highlighting the agency’s importance in assuring supplement safety. One of the most important factors mentioned by Pew is that the industry mustn’t avoid the New Dietary Ingredients (NDI) notification process and the FDA mustn’t fail to enforce this critical requirement.
- Other important comments mentioned by Pew include:
The FDA should take more measures to assure safety, without forgetting to foster innovation and strengthen the NDI process. - The agency should provide the final draft guidance on the NDI process as soon as possible.
- The FDA should ban those who manufacture or distribute these products from relying on the “selfaffirmed” “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) exemption to the food additive law as a key factor for determining the safety of new dietary ingredients that may appear in supplement products.
- The administration should be strict about law enforcement.
- If the FDA uses this or type of marketing advantage to encourage innovation, the advantage mustn’t weaken the safety protections. Besides, the agency must work on figuring out ways to incentivize research on ingredient safety.
And more.
To sum up, the dietary supplement oversight may result in specific challenges for the Food and Drug Administration. So, the agency must boost its authority regarding safety: consumer safety depends on the strict implementation and enforcement of the NDI notification process.