Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) promulgated the amendments to Health Functional Food Code on September 23, 2020. [1] The main contents are specified below.
1. New Precautions of Nine Ingredients
The precautions of beta-carotene, vitamin K, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, pantothenic acid, vitamin B12, biotin, potassium, and chromium are newly added:
Ingredients | Newly Inserted Precautions | |
1 | Beta-carotene | a. Smokers shall consult a health professional before taking the supplement. b. Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
2 | Vitamin K | Consult a health professional before taking the supplement if you're taking an anticoagulant. |
3 | Vitamin B1 | Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
4 | Vitamin B2 | Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
5 | Pantothenic acid | Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
6 | Vitamin B12 | Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
7 | Biotin | Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
8 | Kalium | a. Consult a health professional before taking the supplement if you have kidney diseases or gastrointestinal disease. b. Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
9 | Chromium | Consult a health professional before taking the supplement if you have diabetes. Stop taking the supplement and consult a health professional if you experience side effects. |
2. Addition of Chromium’s New Function
A new function of “help to break down carbohydrates, fats, proteins" is added to chromium according to the efficacy re-evaluation result.
3. Other Amendments
The test methods of Vitamin D, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, and biotin are optimized to be more effective in sampling, pretreating, and analyzing, etc. In addition, the property test method for functional ingredients is specified.
Implementation Date
The amendments to the Health Functional Food Code has come into force along with its issuance on September 23, 2020. The provisions related to the new precautions of beta-carotene, vitamin K, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, pantothenic acid, vitamin B12, biotin, potassium, and chromium will come into effect one year later.
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