FSA News Item, 1 August 2002
[For previous EU News Item on Supplements, see 30 May 2002]
Directive 2002/46/EC, which harmonises European Community legislation on food supplements, was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (L183/51) on 12 July 2002. The text is available on the European Commission website.
The Directive defines the term 'food supplements', contains a list of vitamin and mineral sources that may be used in the manufacture of food supplements, sets out labelling requirements and provides a framework for maximum and minimum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements to be set in the future.
The Directive came into force on 12 July 2002 and will be implemented in UK law by 31 July 2003. The Directive will not immediately outlaw any products already on the UK market.
It gives Member States the opportunity to allow continued sale of products containing vitamin and mineral sources not yet on the permitted list for up to seven years after the Directive comes into force, pending safety assessment of these sources. When implementing the Directive the Government intends to take full advantage of this flexibility.
The FSA is are now working on a draft Statutory Instrument and hope to be in a position to consult on this in autumn 2002.