After the "3.15" cod liver oil incident was exposed, the NBTY brand "Nature's Treasure" cod liver oil soft capsule under the NBTY, the world's largest dietary supplement company, was also included.

However, in comparison with domestic companies that had been exposed by “3·15”, NBTY’s cod liver oil, which also had no access to health food batches, was only quietly discontinued and was not subject to public investigation by regulators.

Who is NBTY?

According to public information, NBTY was formerly known as Nature's Bounty, Inc., which was founded in 1971. It was officially renamed NBTY.Inc in May 1990 and is headquartered in New York, USA. In 2007, NBTY entered the Chinese market and established Nuotianyuan (China) Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Nuotianyuan”) to operate its natural treasure brand and the Merrick sports nutrition brand. NBTY sales for the first time exceeded 2 billion U.S. dollars and net profits exceeded 200 million U.S. dollars.

According to the survey, in addition to cod liver oil soft capsules that have no health food approval as well as domestic companies, Nature's imports of capsule “general foods” or other illegal activities, and its many imported “ordinary food” ingredients It is also suspected of containing chemical drugs.

A lawyer said that the "Food Safety Law" clearly stipulates that chemical substances other than food additives and other substances that may harm human health may not be used in food production. "Natural treasure" variety of imported ordinary foods contain chemical drugs that cannot be used as ordinary food raw materials and are suspected of serious violations of the law.

The natural treasure said: According to the "Food Safety Law" and "Import and Export Food Safety Management Regulations," the relevant provisions of our company's products have been imported food management departments of inspection and quarantine, and obtained a certificate of conformity.

Natural treasure imported foods in the end is health care products or ordinary food?

Adult cod liver oil for children?

At present, China has banned the production of ordinary foods for capsules, but foreign-made capsules can still be imported.

CCTV “3·15” exposed that some producers and operators are still using fish oil or aquatic product processing standards in order to make money, knowing that cod liver oil products fall within the category of pharmaceuticals prescribed by the state, and illegally produce cod liver oil as infant food. Situation, this may lead to excessive consumption of cod liver oil in infants and young children. There are no OTC (over-the-counter drugs) and blue hats on the online shopping malls including Taobao (colon liver oil collectively delisted from China's health food logo, which is a sky-blue, cap-shaped, health food logo approved by the State Food and Drug Administration). . Including "natural treasures" cod liver oil.

Nature's treasure said: "Nature's treasure cod liver oil soft capsule is suitable for adult use, and the Food and Drug Administration issued a document on March 16 'cod liver oil products children' has nothing to do. "But the product is included in the natural treasure of their own The website and other types of online malls have all been discontinued.

Furthermore, it was discovered in online stores such as Suning's e-commerce website that the natural treasure children's cod liver oil soft capsules had been removed, but its previous advertising content was not deleted. The web pages are eye-catching and proclaimed: "Natural treasure children's special cod liver oil. Applicable people: long-term fat malabsorption, adolescents and children watching the computer screen for a long time; young children and children who need to add cod liver oil." And "the health of genius baby Such descriptions abound.

A health food industry official who declined to be named stated that at present, domestic production of capsules and ordinary foods has been banned, but foreign-made capsules can still be imported. The companies involved in the cod liver oil incident are using the "confectionery products and processed aquatic products" food production license violation of the normal production of soft capsules in the form of food "cod liver oil." The essence of corporate violations is the use of raw materials can only be used for health food "Cod liver oil" produces ordinary foods for capsules. In fact, the import of special foods for capsules is the “hard-hit area” for such problems. Imported capsules contain ordinary foods and even chemical drugs.

"Nature's treasure products include cod liver oil products, imported for the United States dietary supplements, non-health foods." Natural treasure official explanation.

The health care products industry explained further that some of the special foods for imported capsules are based on the “General Standard for Health (Functional) Foods” (GB16740) for customs clearance inspection. Therefore, even if they contain raw materials for health foods or even chemical drugs, the inspection is also qualified. After importing, they evaded the blue hat certification of the Food and Drug Administration in the name of ordinary foods, but they used the health food method when they were sold. Nature's Poor Cod Liver Oil Soft Capsule was taken off the shelf and it only exposed the suspected violation of these imported capsules.

Many products involve chemical drugs

The "Coenzyme Q-10 soft capsule" specification clearly marked "[adverse reactions] occasionally rash, stomach discomfort, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, etc.".

Zhang Dachao, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Health Association, said in an interview that there are two criteria for whether domestic common food is illegal or not: First, it is illegal to observe whether raw materials belong to foods, such as adding Cordyceps, propolis, and non-ordinary foods; It involves the addition of food additives, it is necessary to examine whether it is in the national provisions of the list of food additives, followed by see if it meets the national standards for the use of food additives.

According to industry sources, the inclusion of chemical drugs in the so-called dietary supplements is a violation of the regulations. The natural coenzyme Q-10 softgels are typical examples. Coenzyme Q10 (C59H90O4), also known as Ubiquinone, is a chemical drug collected by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 edition). Clinically used for the adjuvant treatment of the following diseases: 1. Cardiovascular diseases, such as: viral myocarditis, chronic cardiac insufficiency. 2. Hepatitis, such as: viral hepatitis, subacute hepatic necrosis, chronic active hepatitis. 3. Comprehensive treatment of cancer: can reduce some of the adverse reactions caused by radiotherapy, chemotherapy and so on.

The investigation found that the packaging of natural coenzyme Q-10 soft capsules indicated that the ingredients were Coenzyme Q-10, rice sugar oil, gelatin, glycerin, soya lecithin, titanium dioxide, etc.; origin of the United States; Connaught Tianyuan (China) Trading Co., Ltd. Distribution. There are no "health food" signs and lot numbers on the packaging.

“How can this become a food for consumers to use for a long time?” An expert in pharmaceutical toxicology research in Beijing expressed concern that drugs have strict indications, contraindications and certain side effects. The "Coenzyme Q-10 soft capsule" specification clearly marked "[adverse reactions] occasionally rash, stomach discomfort, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, etc.".

Further investigations revealed that Natural Naturale Osteo Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM Compound Nutritional Tablets distributed by NuoTianYuan (China) also contained the chemical drug component Glucosamine (C6H13NO5). Natural Fortified Melatonin Tablets contain Compound N-Acetyl 5-methoxytryptamine (13N2H16O2).

It is understood that at present, coenzyme Q-10, glucosamine, N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, etc., as new chemical drug components discovered in recent years, can only be used as raw materials for health foods according to the current regulations of the relevant state departments. And the National Ministry of Health has never approved the use of coenzyme Q-10, glucosamine, and melatonin as common food ingredients. These three kinds of chemical substances are also not included in the "Standard for the Use of Food Nutrition Enhancers" and "Standard for the Use of Food Additives" promulgated by the Ministry of Health.

Nuotianyuan (China) insisted that: "Coenzyme Q-10 is not a food additive and a nutritional enhancer, so it has nothing to do with the "food additive use standard" and "food nutrition enhancer use standard." About Coenzyme Q-10 and other Imported foods have been approved by the import and export food safety management departments. They have passed the inspection and are issued with a health certificate before being put on the market. Therefore, they are in compliance with the Food Safety Law and related regulations.” However, no blue is found on the product packaging. With the hat symbol, the product name and company name of Nature's Foods on the website of the State Food and Drug Administration cannot retrieve the relevant batch number information and import approval information.

Zhang Yinhua, a lawyer of Guangdong Shenpeng Law Firm, clearly stated that “Article 46 of the “Food Safety Law” stipulates that food producers shall use food additives in accordance with the provisions of food safety standards on the types, scope, and dosage of food additives; The use of chemical substances other than food additives and other substances that may harm human health in food production.Article 50 stipulates that no drugs may be added to foods produced and operated.Natural treasures such as coenzyme Q-10 soft capsules and other ordinary foods shall not contain any As a common food chemical raw material, it is a serious violation of the "Food Safety Law."

Zhang Dachao further explained that the problem of food additives is relatively simple, as long as the list of food additives and national standards can be consulted, such as the melamine added to milk in that year is such an illegal act. However, whether the raw materials belong to foods need to be determined by the relevant national regulatory authorities.

On March 31, a letter was sent to the State Food and Drug Administration to discuss whether Coenzyme Q-10 was used as a food raw material. On April 3, the State Food and Drug Administration issued an email reply saying that the State Food and Drug Administration, the former State Food and Drug Administration and the former Ministry of Health had never approved natural treasure products as health foods.

No "blue hat" is sold in the health care market

The natural treasures of the above products neither "health food" batch number, nor food production permit "QS" batch number, long-term walk between ordinary food and health food, supervision is in the "two no matter" blank space.

The above-mentioned health food industry personnel who did not wish to be named, before March 2013, China's food safety system was sub-supervised, the drug regulatory agencies supervised the health foods, and industrial and commercial institutions supervised the circulation of ordinary pre-packaged foods. The natural treasures of the above products neither "health food" batch number, nor food production permit "QS" batch number, long-term walk between ordinary food and health food, supervision is in the "two no matter" blank space. Inspection and quarantine authorities are only responsible for the supervision of food import and export. Imported foods such as natural treasures, which are special types of soft capsules, are generally not required to be submitted to the national food and drug regulatory authorities for approval. They can sell as much as they want when they enter the country.

Jia Yaguang, deputy secretary-general of the China Health Food Association, said in an interview with the media that as early as 2007, there were rules that ordinary food could not be made into tablets, capsules, etc. However, the forms of foreign foods that can be imported are not regulated by specific departments, even if they declare that health functions and other violations are not monitored.

Nature's treasure has declared on its official store that "Nature's treasure Coenzyme Q-10 soft capsules are made of pharmaceutical grade raw materials and are particularly suitable for people with poor heart vitality." According to the industry sources, the natural treasure coenzyme Q-10 soft So-called ordinary foods such as capsules are sold in the name of health foods.

Searching the major online shopping malls found that most online shopping malls classify natural treasure products as nutritional and health care products. I buy them on the website of health foods, and Tmall will place them in the health food category. In the healthcare category. These online merchants do not seem to sell natural treasures as ordinary foods. The online shopping malls' fear of classifying and publicizing natural treasures will not allow the public to regard them as health foods, rather than requiring approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Ordinary imported food.

At the same time, the pharmacy network and Golden Elephant Network, which are operating as pharmaceutical specialty companies, are also selling natural treasure-related products. They all classify natural treasure products as health care products. On March 28th, I called pharmacy net to ask whether natural treasure products are ordinary foods or health foods. Why is there not a "blue hat?" A few hours later, Mr. Ma of the pharmacy network quality inspection department said: In view of the above doubts, the company decided to temporarily take off the products of Nature's treasure, wait for the company to investigate it, and then put it on sale. Explained. However, no further explanation from the pharmacy network was received at the time of writing.