In response to issues highlighted in a recent New York Times article regarding conventional food products currently on the market labeled and being sold as dietary supplements, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), Washington, D.C. issued the following statement from Steve Mister, president and CEO, CRN:

“Conventional food products, including cakes and brownies, that are fortified with a dietary ingredient, such as melatonin, are not dietary supplements despite being labeled that way; they are mislabeled conventional foods.

“A dietary supplement is intended to do just that—supplement the diet. Products labeled or marketed as being part of the diet—as a ‘cake’ or ‘brownie’ would be—are conventional foods, not supplements. For a conventional food product to include a dietary ingredient, a company must either seek approval as a food additive or achieve generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status for the ingredient.

“FDA’s authority to distinguish between conventional foods and dietary supplements is well established, as demonstrated by its guidance last year on beverages fortified with dietary ingredients, and FDA has ample tools to enforce the law. CRN has reached out to the agency and encouraged it to take swift action against these products.”