Govt to establish testing facility for dietary supplements

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, FSSAI and NFSU sign MoU

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Ahmedabad have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up the testing facility for dietary supplements, in the presence of Sujata Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Sports, MYAS, Ritu Sain, Director General, National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) and other officers of the Ministry, FSSAI and NFSU.

Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Anurag Singh Thakur said, “This MoU will benefit athletes and athlete-support personnel by educating and spreading awareness about inadvertent doping due to prohibited substances present in nutritional supplements. This facility being established at NFSU will help the stakeholders, not only in the country but also in the entire region.”

It is an important step forward in implementing the recently enacted National Anti-Doping Act, 2022,  by Government of India. An important feature of this Act is the adoption of the best practices for nutritional supplements to save sportspersons from inadvertent doping.

Nutritional supplements can contain unlabeled substances that are on the ‘List of Prohibited Substances’ as published yearly by the World Anti‐Doping Agency. They are a potential source for unintentional doping violations, leading to severe sanctions for well‐intentioned elite athletes.

The presence of undeclared compounds in the composition of dietary supplements is a serious concern. As of now, no testing facility available in India for ensuring the absence of prohibited substance in the dietary supplements.

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