The National Drug Authority (Infarmed) and the Food Safety Authority and Economic (ASAE) analyzed a total of 98 food supplements “falsification of suspects and / or tampering.” Concerned were products that could have constituted substances which are also used in pharmaceuticals – which is not allowed. In 27 of them were confirmed prohibited substances and will be withdrawn from the market.
Among the 98 products assessed, 58 were intended to weight loss and 40 to improve sexual performance. “After laboratory control were detected with 27 supplements not allowed active substances, of which 22 are supplements designed to improve sexual performance and five supplements to weight loss,” explains Infarmed in a statement. Given the results, the authorities will “take appropriate measures to withdraw from the market and establishment of their offense processes.”
The control action is a partnership between the Infarmed and ASAE for controlling supplements containing the same substances as drugs. The protocol was signed on February 4, 2014 and intends to tighten control over this kind of dietary supplements that may pose “a risk to public health.”
“These actions are only possible through the consultation synergies and cooperation between the various entities involved, so that, under this control, samples have been taken, by specialized teams of both authorities of experts in retailers and distributors and Infarmed performed the laboratory control, “adds the note Infarmed, which highlights the “joint and intervention in defense of public health.”
The dietary supplements industry, according to the latest available figures, for 2010, will represent EUR 200 million per year in Portugal. Despite the size, the rules relating to the safety of the products are different from those for medicinal products – where the approval of a new drug through the Infarmed. In the field of supplements it is for the industry to ensure that the product is safe and the subsequent control is in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture.
One of the main problems has been in illegal advertising on the packaging of these supplements. In 2014 ASAE brought close to a hundred processes related mainly to irregularities in the labeling and records. Have the Directorate General for Consumer Protection, since in 2009 it was possible to take control of misleading or unsubstantiated promises, introduced about fifty processes.
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