Everyone has heard about the miraculous effects of dietary supplements. Advertisements tell you that one can lose weight without going to the gym, just by eating some special supplement, or that a man could become as powerful as a wrestler without much efforts. People who suffer from a disease could also be misled by information concerning food supplements and this could have grave effects. Alarmed by several cases of misleading information, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency has launched checks in production facilities and shops where these supplements are sold.
“Often advertisements of dietary supplements try to tell people that these products are very healthy and that they even had medicinal qualities,” doctor Lyubomir Kulinski of the Food Safety Agency says. “There are advertisements claiming that one could lose six kilograms of weight for a couple of days without any harm or that young men could gain muscle mass very fast. There are even some advertisements claiming that certain supplements could even help curing cancer or other diseases. We must put order to the market. Producers must back their claims printed on the label with laboratory tests. Our aim is to prevent producers writing misleading information on the labels on such products,” doctor Kulinski adds.
That is why authorities are monitoring production facilities, warehouses, drug stores, and fitness clubs where such food supplements are mostly sold. Sanctions will be imposed to companies that violate the law. We could even introduce law changes, in order to provide better protection to consumers, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov has recently declared.
“Some of the dietary supplements may have to be removed from the market, in order to be correctly labeled. We cannot allow products on the food market to provide false information to consumers as this can harm people’s health,” doctor Kulinski concludes.
English: Alexander Markov
