India may soon have mandated requirements for nutritional supplements since the Food Safety Authority of India is developing benchmarks even though the country's demand for nutraceuticals is rising quickly. Nutraceuticals, commonly referred to as functional foods, are mostly vitamin C and D and zinc-based nutritional supplements. They come in the form of tablets, syrups, capsules, powders, candies, and chewables, and some experts think they offer only marginal advantages.
Due to the fact that a sizable portion of the population uses nutraceuticals as dietary supplements, the market for them is expanding. The national food authority projects that the market for nutritional supplements would grow from $4 billion in 2017 to 18 billion in 2025 at a compounded rate of 50%. The newly formed scientific committee of the FSSAI convened earlier this month for its first meeting since it was founded in March to discuss issues, new areas, and criteria for sustainable foods.
The food regulator issued a statement that included the meeting minutes. Six independent experts and the chairs of the 21 scientific panels make up the scientific committee, which was established by the food authority in accordance with Section 13 of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 (FSS Act). The group will provide the food authority with scientific advice and feedback.
The main scientific arms of the food authority in the standard-development process are the scientific committee and the 21 scientific panels. According to industry experts, dietary supplements have become much more well-liked and accepted in India, particularly because everyone is eager to work on boosting their immune systems. Nutraceuticals are an effective line of defence against viral assaults, according to the researchers, since they include bioactive derivatives from sources including phytochemicals, antioxidants, amino acids, fatty acids, and probiotics. Representatives of the business said that there was a need to control the market.
