FDA on Thursday recognized the benefits of disclosing on labels the number of live microbials in dietary supplements—an issue of interest to marketers of probiotics.
FDA stopped short of amending its labeling regulations, denying a request filed by the International Probiotics Association (IPA).
However, the agency revealed plans to “exercise enforcement discretion” for companies that chose to declare on the Supplement Facts label the amount of live microbial ingredients based on colony-forming units (CFUs), in addition to disclosing the quantitative amount of certain dietary ingredients based on their weight per FDA regulations.
“We believe that CFUs provide a useful description of the quantity of live microbial dietary ingredients,” FDA explained in a constituent update. “Allowing firms to declare the CFUs within the Supplement Facts label will help consumers more readily identify the amount of living microorganisms for each product and more easily compare products.”
Enforcement discretion
In draft guidance published Sept. 6, 2018, FDA said it intends to exercise its enforcement discretion, provided the following conditions are met:
• The quantity is first listed in terms of weight;
• The declaration of quantity in CFUs is expressed in a manner that is clearly separate and readily distinguishable from the weight, e.g., as a parenthetical or in a subset line;
• The declaration of quantity in CFUs is formatted in clear terms that can easily be understood by a common reader, e.g., 10 billion or 300* (where the unit that “*” is intended to represent, such as million or billion, is a typical measurement of CFUs and is clearly indicated elsewhere in the Supplement Facts label)
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