Recently, the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has introduced a series of rules to control the production and distribution of food supplements. The reason for the change in legislation was the lack of organization and knowledge about the articles, which were treated as medicines and as food.

Many food supplements were seen as foods, not having specific regulations. Now with the new changes, all items with vitamin complex, fish oil or protein based products will be put together into a single category: supplements. The idea is for products to comply with specific legislation and better inform consumers about the active ingredients in each type of medicine.

Therefore, thermogenic, hydrolyzed proteins and creatine has to give the obligatory label "food supplement", as well as multivitamins and shakes to lose weight.

Effectively, for new products, that not released yet, the legislation is already in place and has already begun to be applied. Many companies will need to adapt packaging and products close to the marketing to see them available in the market.

However, the supplements that were on sale before the law change have five years running to fit the new specifications. Although it sounds complex, the change is positive for the industry and for consumers. With it, supplements may have approved registration faster and consumers can safely use supplements.

SOURCE: https://www.acritica.com/channels/cotidiano/news/anvisa-divulga-novas-normas-para-suplementos-alimentares