Bad company: How the industry can save itself – and consumers – from fake supplements

Using reputable third-party certification programs on our product labels. Reputable companies should market the fact that their brands are compliant with cGMPs (current good manufacturing practices) and tested by an independent lab. Categories that are particularly susceptible to illegal ingredients (including sexual enhancement and weight loss ingredients) should employ testing that specifically looks for these ingredients in raw materials; some certification programs are specially designed for these assurances.

Holding FDA (collectively through the trade associations) accountable to do its job and enforce the law swiftly and aggressively against these fake supplements. We must keep the political pressure from Congress on the agency.

Offering some legislative solutions that make it easier for FDA to get illegal products out of the market. FDA officials rightly point to the fact that the current law makes it difficult to prosecute a product that is marketed as a dietary supplement but doesn’t contain any of the ingredients that the law says a supplement must contain. If it’s not a supplement, what is it? We can fix that! (At the Council for Responsible Nutrition, we’re working on some legislative ideas to clarify the enforcement aspects of the law.)

Marginalizing the scofflaws at retail. Sales executives in our category can use their considerable interactions with their retail partners to make sure they understand tianeptine and other dangerous chemicals are not legal supplements. Selling these products puts the retailer in considerable legal peril. If the concern for their customers’ health doesn’t persuade them to not sell these dangerous products, knowledge of their potential liability might.

Supporting dietary supplement listing. Yes, it can help address the problem. Opponents of mandatory listing miss the fact that a mandatory registry system would be de facto enforced by the marketplace. Legitimate retailers simply would not sell products that are not listed in an FDA-mandated registry. Even major online retailers would remove those items because of the potential liability for selling a product that’s not in the mandatory listing. That squeezes the fake supplements further to the edges and away from unsuspecting consumers. It doesn’t eliminate the problem, but consumers who seek out illegal products will know when they go to the dark corners of the internet or backroom dealers, they’re not getting legitimate dietary supplements.

Once enacted, pushing FDA to use the mandatory registry as a tool for finding and prosecuting those who don’t comply and provide accurate, factual information about their products.