U.S. Congress Proposes FDA to Strengthen Supervision of Health Food Industry

The US Congress’ “Government Oversight Office” (GAO) drafted a report not long ago and submitted it to the House and Senate of the Congress, requesting the Congress to urge the FDA to strengthen the supervision of the country's health food products. The report pointed out that the FDA's work has the following deficiencies: The FDA does not understand the health food information of food manufacturers; the FDA has insufficient information on the import of foreign health food ingredients; the FDA does not pay attention to the withdrawal of the problem health food products. Some brands of health foods are problematic, but they can still stay on the market; the FDA must do more to promote public understanding of the health foods on the market.

In the report, GAO also listed three measures for the FDA to strengthen health food supervision in the future: First, the FDA should immediately set up an expert committee. Once new materials are used to produce health food, the committee should discuss the new materials in advance. Safety and whether there is a potential hazard to the human body, if the raw material has been decided to be used as a raw material for health foods, relevant quality standards (testing methods) should be formulated; secondly, FDA should establish a production specification for health foods and guide manufacturers on which raw materials Can be used to produce health food and manufacturers should truthfully add the name of the raw materials to inform consumers; Third, the FDA should increase public education in the future.

It is understood that in the United States, as long as manufacturers can provide proof that their raw materials are non-toxic and harmless to the human body, they can be used in dietary supplements. Therefore, many products that should belong to the category of drugs can be marketed as dietary supplements in the United States, such as melatonin and ginkgo leaf preparations.