Up to 85 per cent of the food supplements currently on sale in health stores across the country will disappear if a new EU Food Supplements Directive is implemented here, it was claimed yesterday.
Ms Erica Murray of the Irish Association of Health Stores said the directive would "grossly infringe" the rights of the 45 per cent of Irish people who currently use vitamins and minerals.
Ms Murray told the joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children that the new directive, which is due to be transposed into Irish law at the end of July, threatened the livelihoods of many of those in the natural food industry, which is worth €45 million annually and employs in excess of 1,000 people directly.
Under the new directive only certain vitamins and minerals will be permitted to be used in a food supplement, with over 300 nutrients which are currently allowed being omitted.
These included basic mineral nutrients such as silicon, boron and sulphur, she said, while fluoride, the need for which was not established in human nutrition, was left in.
In addition, the directive will set levels of vitamins and minerals permitted in a food supplement and these are likely to be lower than permitted at present.
Ms Murray claimed the directive was highly restrictive and akin to "using a sledge-hammer to crack a nut". Moreover, the cost to the industry of complying with it in terms of relabelling, for example, was a major concern.
Mr Martin Forde of the Irish Health Trade Association emphasised that supplements currently on the market were very safe. He said he was certain the Irish Medicines Board would have acted before now if any of them were not.
Committee member Dr Jerry Cowley said he was worried about the proliferation of health food outlets.
The committee decided to forward the submission from the health food industry to the Department of Health, the Irish Medicines Board and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland for their observations.