Functional foods such as performance enhancers that got Indian athletes embroiled in a doping scandal recently will soon come under strict quality inspection.
The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is planning to notify regulatory norms for functional foods and dietary supplements. Currently, food supplements escape regulatory scrutiny from both the drug regulatory agency and FSSAI, as their products do not come under the classical definition of medicine or food.
“The Prevention of Food Adulteration law does not define a food supplement. They are marketed by companies as proprietary products, on which we have no regulatory control. The new rules will put an end to it,” a senior FSSAI official said.
He said an expert committee appointed by the authority had already prepared the draft regulations. “This will be vetted by our scientific panel and forwarded for notification. The rules should be ready in four months,” he added.
Incidentally, most of the performance enhancers considered as banned products by the World Anti Doping Agency contain medicinal ingredients used in life-saving drugs.
Active ingredients in drugs that are given for ailments such as heart attacks, hypertension, asthma, cancer, etc are found in the performance enhancers taken by sports personnel. FSSAI’s attempts will be to see that such products are tested for quality before they are allowed to be marketed.
Regulatory officials said drugs such as beta-blockers or anabolic agents are all prescription drugs and, hence, not meant to be sold over the counter. They also note that the doping controversy was not on misuse of medicines but on use of food supplements which contained banned ingredients.