Regulations to implement the provisions of the EU directive on food supplements in England were laid before the UK parliament this week. They will come into force on 1 August 2003.
Similar legislation will be made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The regulations define, for the first time, a food supplement. They also introduce the 'positive lists' of vitamins, minerals and nutrient sources, permitted for use in the EU. Under the regulations, food supplements must only be sold pre-packed and meet mandatory labelling requirements.
Health food agencies are currently urging industry to submit dossiers for those substances not included on the positive lists, although it seems that only 12 have so far been compiled. Dossiers on ingredients not on the 'positive lists', received by EFSA before 12 July 2005, will allow the continued use of the nutrient until 31 December 2009.
The UK, recognised as one of the largest markets for supplements in Member States, with one of the largest ranges of supplements available to consumers, risks losing some 270 individual sources of vitamins and minerals currently marketed in the UK. If dossiers supporting these sources are not submitted in time, they will be removed from the market from 1 August 2005.
A risk assessment compiled by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), suggests that the new composition standards potentially present more of a risk to industry than to consumers. However consumer groups such as Consumers for Health Choice (CHC) have been campaigning to prevent the EU regulations from entering into UK law.