Legislation on nutraceuticals and food supplements: A comparison between regulations in USA and EU

Abstract

This chapter provides a short review of the main regulations concerning functional food and nutraceutical products set out by the US Food and Drug Administration and in the European Union by the European Commission. The directives are presented in chronological order with an overview on the reaction and feedback they received from consumers and manufacturing industry. A comparison between the US and EU regulations, their acceptance and impact on the market is presented, together with a final suggestion to enhance the future development and distribution of functional products, which belong to an equivocal area between food and drugs. © 2010 Landes Bioscience and Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.