Advice of the Scientific Committee of the Belgian Food Safety Agency on the risk assessment of the consumption of food supplements in particular those purchased on the internet

The Scientific Committee has started a self tasking dossier to evaluate the potential risks of consumption of food supplements in particular those sold via internet. Possible risks are the presence of contaminants, possible interactions with other pharmaceutical drugs or therapeutic procedures (surgery, anesthesia, ...) and the biological/pharmacological properties of the constituents. The evaluation is based on a literature review. The aim is to inform the consumer, health professionals and operators of the risks associated with the consumption of certain food supplements. 
The Scientific Committee has restricted the scope of the dossier to herbal food supplements, (pro)hormones, food supplements with a therapeutic indication, adulterated food supplements, food supplements with an adverse biological activity for health (alkaloids, ...) or containing toxic contaminants (heavy metals, mycotoxins, PAHs, ... ) and food supplements under the Novel Food legislation.