New labels being introduced in the UK over coming months follow an investigation last year commissioned by the UK's food authority, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), into the safety of nutrient levels when taken in supplements.
While the majority of the report's findings were consistent with the upper safe levels already used by manufacturers, some levels recommended by the expert group differed significantly from those of other bodies, such as the EU's Scientific Committee for Food and the US Food and Nutrition Board (FNB).
And as one of the first such investigations by a national food authority, it has been feared that the findings could set a precedent for strict upper levels by European regulators when they come to setting maximum permitted levels in the 2002 food supplements directive.
While European nutrient levels remain somewhat in the distant future, the UK has already acted on its report. But rather than requiring high potency vitamin and mineral supplements to be removed from shelves, as the FSA's alarmist press release may have indicated, it has requested that manufacturers use 'advisory statements' on product labels to warn consumers of possible risks.
"We'd rather not have to carry out relabelling but the approach is a more pragmatic one to reformulation," Paul Chamberlain, director of technical affairsat Solgar, told NutraIngredients.com.
"We also think that this is a good way of showing Europe that higher levels can be managed properly and this might help us when we start talking about upper levels for the food supplement directive."
Not all of the 11 advisory statements have been readily accepted by industry however.
While the advice that taking more than 1000mg of vitamin C may cause mild stomach upset in sensitive individuals is widely known, the science behind a statement on beta-carotene - 'should not be taken by heavy smokers' - and manganese 'long term intake may lead to muscle pain and fatigue' - remains contentious.
Trade association the Health Food Manufacturers' Association has however welcomed the majority of the changes and is supporting FSA's promise to recommend the advisory statements to European regulators and member states, 'as a practical system of risk management' prior to deciding on maximum levels in the food supplements directive.
Many supplement makers are in any case already altering labels in anticipation of the food supplements directive.
"We are changing labels all the time, when formulas are being tweaked, for example. But we have also started to change labels ahead of the food supplements directive to anticipate some of the workload ahead," said Chamberlain.
But he added: "This doesn't mean that we are overjoyed about doing it [adding the advisory statements]. There are some products that we didn't have plans to change and we will have to pull in for new labels."
And for a range of 450 products, the costs will mount up and have to be absorbed by the company.
However Chamberlain added that the advisory statements were unlikely to damage Solgar sales.
"We only sell to specialist stores and these retailers are probably aware of these issues [the risks of high level nutrients] and passing this on to consumers anyway."
The HFMA also noted that the labelling solution was a better reflection of the FSA's own published data on the safety of vitamin and mineral products - it shows one adverse reaction, generally minor, per year over an 11 year period.
"We're not in full agreement with all of the advisory statements but this is part of a bigger picture. We wanted to show Europe that there is a way of managing higher levels, and compared to the GMO and food supplement directives, the impact is relatively small," added Chamberlain.