Clarifying the concept and regulations of food supplements

In recent years, the management of health protection foods and functional foods has become one of the important issues in the food industry in Vietnam.

Amendment to Decree 15: Clarifying concepts and regulations on food supplements

In recent years, the management of health protection foods and functional foods has become one of the important issues in the food industry in Vietnam.

In order to meet the requirements of sustainable development and protect consumer rights, businesses, associations, and organizations have actively contributed opinions to the draft Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government .

These contributions not only help to improve management regulations but also contribute to creating a transparent, clear and quality-assured legal environment for the functional food and health food market in the future.

In order to improve product quality and enhance management efficiency, many businesses in the functional food industry have contributed important opinions in the process of amending and supplementing Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP, especially regulations related to food supplements.

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The companies, including Vinafosa, CPC1 Hanoi and AmCham, argued that not allowing food supplements to declare health warnings and uses is inconsistent with international regulations, especially the Codex Alimentarius guidelines.

Codex has clearly stipulated that dietary supplements can claim health benefits, provided that there is scientific evidence to support it. This is in line with Article 2, Clause 23 of the Food Safety Law, which stipulates that functional foods, including dietary supplements, can claim benefits if there is clear scientific evidence.

Business proposal: These entities propose to keep the current regulations, allowing dietary supplements to declare health claims and the uses of supplement ingredients, as long as there is sufficient scientific evidence.

In addition, the concept of "food supplements" is also of particular concern to businesses and associations. According to some units such as Traphaco and Vinamilk, the current definition of "food supplements" in the Decree is still not clear enough and there are differences in application.

These businesses suggested that it is necessary to clarify the concept of “regular food” to accurately distinguish it from health protection food and avoid confusion in the product registration process.

One of the important points is the adjustment of the concept of food for special diets. Opinions from CPC1 Hanoi suggest that this concept should be expanded to include groups such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, people with special medical conditions, or people requiring special diets (for example, thin people, obese people, people with diseases such as rheumatism, cancer, etc.).

Clarifying and expanding this concept helps businesses to produce and publish products legally, while protecting consumers' rights from misleading advertisements about product uses.

One of the notable points in the proposals is the request to clarify the concept of "food for special dietary uses" in accordance with Codex guidelines.

Businesses and organizations have pointed out that the concept is currently interpreted too narrowly, only applying to products that have Codex standards. This practice has led to some supplements being overstated and self-declared as special foods when they do not belong to this group.

Enterprises proposed to amend Decree 15/2018/ND-CP in the direction of expanding the definition, including subjects such as dieters, people with medical conditions, or people with special physical disorders (e.g. children, pregnant women, the elderly, obese people, people with cancer). When clarified like that, it will help these products to be fully registered and declared and avoid the situation of false advertising about the effects.

Some proposals also focus on improving product quality, especially products for children under 36 months of age and medical nutrition products.

Enterprises such as CPC1 Hanoi and Vinafosa propose requiring these products to be manufactured in facilities that meet GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000 or equivalent standards. The regulation will help improve product quality, protect consumer health, and ensure transparency and clarity in the production process.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/sua-doi-nghi-dinh-15-lam-ro-khai-niem-va-quy-dinh-ve-thuc-pham-bo-sung-d255672.html