Dietary Supplement Industry Backs FDA Crackdown On Tainted Products

Several trade associations that represent the dietary supplement industry have thrown their support behind FDA efforts to crack down on tainted products marketed as dietary supplements that contain the same active ingredients as approved drugs or other ingredients that do not qualify as dietary ingredients. The products are often promoted for weight loss, sexual enhancement, and bodybuilding and contain undeclared or deceptively labeled ingredients. The agency announced an RSS feed on its Web site to quickly warn consumers about questionable products, and created a mechanism for industry to alert the FDA about tainted products and the firms that make them. Substances found in tainted products include active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs or their analogs and other compounds, such as novel synthetic steroids. FDA enforcement procedures include warning letters, product seizures and criminal prosecutions.