Health Stores Ireland relaunches Save Our Supplements campaign
With the EU currently finalizing Maximum Permitted Levels (MPLs) for food supplements, Health Stores Ireland (HSI) is fighting to make sure effective products stay on shelf.
The national industry initiative aimed at protecting consumer access to high-strength vitamin and mineral supplements is being led by subcommittee members Hannah Dare (Organico), Finn Murray (The Hopsack) and Matt Ronan (Evolv) who are coordinating responses from the retail sector and consumers to pending EU proposals to harmonize MPLs.
The campaign highlights concerns that the proposed MPLs could result in significant potency reductions across a range of widely used nutrients, including vitamin D, vitamin B6, vitamin C and magnesium. Industry representatives assert that the precautionary risk model underpinning the EU’s approach was developed in the context of hazardous chemical regulation and isn’t appropriate when applied to nutrients with established safety profiles at currently available potencies.
“Ireland’s position within this debate carries particular weight,” stresses Murray. “The country’s well-documented vitamin D deficiency burden, attributable to latitude and climate, illustrates the limitations of a harmonized EU-wide approach that does not account for population-specific nutritional needs.”
The practical consequences for the Irish market would be considerable: products that have underpinned preventative health practice in independent health stores, pharmacies and nutritional therapy practices for decades could face reformulation or withdrawal in their current formats.
Alongside colleagues in the Irish Health Trade Association, HSI is calling on industry and consumers to engage with their public representatives, including MEPs, TDs and senators, ahead of further legislative progress on the proposals.
The campaign’s national petition, along with a retailers’ action pack, is available at www.saveoursupplements.ie.
By Jane Wolfe, contributor