15% Of Dietary Supplements Of Substandard Quality, Says FSSAI Survey

At least 15 per cent of protein powders sold in India are of poor quality, said a survey by the state food regulator on dietary supplements that have become popular in recent years.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in Financial Year 2021-2022, tested 145,000 protein powder samples and found 4,890 were unsafe and 16,582 substandard. Health experts have expressed concern about the unsupervised consumption of dietary supplements, warning poor-quality products can affect cardiovascular health and kidneys.

The Consumer Protection Act 2019 bans misleading advertisements about any product or service falsely describing a product and deliberately concealing information on sugar content while focusing on immunity boost.

Dr Arun Gupta, convener of think tank Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), said that protein powders, especially those containing ultra processed foods or excessive sugar, are questionable dietary supplements and their over consumption can lead to non- communicable diseases like diabetes and cancer. “Dietary and nutritional supplements are not covered under front of pack labelling (FoPL) draft policy and NAPi has already written to the food regulator to bring them under the purview of FoPL,” he said.

Getting good quality protein is expensive and cumbersome, so some small setups mix sugar therefore, said Dr Namita Radar, who works at Fortis Hospital, Noida. Another issue, she said, was intense competition among industry players.

“What they claim on their top bars is not what they provide,” she added.

Cost cutting and poor resources are some reasons for poor quality dietary supplements, said experts. Some brands, to meet immense demand, do not adhere to quality protocols set by FSSAI, said Shilpa Khanna Thakkar, CEO of Chicnutrix, a beauty and wellness nutritional brand.

The quality of the product also depends on where the products are being manufactured. So, quality control of the manufacturing unit is significant in all aspects, she said.

While appreciating FSSAI’s survey, she said that it is time for all companies in the supplement industry to follow quality standards.

“We appreciate the proactive action made by FSSAI as it will ensure the quality of the supplements and give us the motivation to brands like ours who are consistently and constantly making efforts and ensuring high-quality labelled nutrition products,” said Varun Khanna, co-founder of Fast & Up, a homegrown nutritional brand.