The Ministry of health is planning to come out with a separate Act for control and regulation of food supplements in the country. The ministry would introduce a Health Food Supplement Bill in the forthcoming session of the Parliament with an aim to have in place Health Foods Supplements (Manufacture, Import and Sale) Regulations Act 2004 as early as possible. The works on the draft bill is in an advanced stage, it is learnt.

The bill would call for the creation of a separate legal category other than food, drugs and ayurveda, unani and siddha medicines for products used as health food supplements. It will also provide for regulation of manufacture or import for sale in the country with a view to protect public health.

According to sources, the proposed bill intends to address the inadequacy in the existing Drugs and Cosmetics Act and PFA Rules to regulate health food supplements. It will also take into consideration a globally growing market for this category and the non-existence of such a category in India to provide access to the Indian population to have properly regulated health food supplements while preparing the bill. The bill is to give clear definitions for Health Food Supplements (HFS), Misbranded Health Food Supplements and Adulterated Health Food Supplements and Spurious Health Food Supplements.

The government has taken into notice that there were number of products currently sold all over the world under different categories like dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, herbaceuticals, health foods etc that could come under the definition of HFS. The use of these products that are increasingly available in the form of capsules, tablets, powder or granules, liquid, jellies etc has made the government think of a regulatory control over them, it is learnt. "A need has been expressed to bring in clarity in regard to the regulatory policies and procedures concerning safety, quantity, claims, labelling, classification etc of products which are not claimed or considered as medicines but are consumed and propagated for certain heath benefits or nutritional advantages as these products do not fit into the domain of conventional drugs or regular foods under the provisions of PFA Act," it has been observed.