Washington, D.C., September 1, 2015—In response to a consumer update issued today by FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, “FDA Takes Action on Bulk Pure Powdered Caffeine Products,” announcing the issuance of five warning letters to distributors of pure powdered caffeine, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry, issued the following statement:
Statement by Rend Al-Mondhiry, regulatory counsel, CRN:
“We have been, and continue to be, supportive of FDA’s efforts in this area to educate consumers about the potential dangers of pure powdered caffeine. We share the agency’s concerns about the safety of this product being sold directly to consumers. In fact, earlier this year, CRN updated its voluntary guidelines for caffeine-containing products to include restraints against the sale and marketing of pure powdered caffeine. Our guidelines do not limit marketing or sales of pure powdered caffeine in bulk form as part of a business-to-business transaction, but we have advised that our companies—and we hope the industry will follow suit—should not sell or market pure powdered caffeine in bulk form directly to consumers. We hope the companies receiving the warning letters will take these concerns seriously, and if not, we look to FDA to take the next steps under the law.”
Note to Editor: The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing 150+ dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and companies providing services to those manufacturers and suppliers. In addition to complying with a host of federal and state regulations governing dietary supplements and food in the areas of manufacturing, marketing, quality control and safety, our manufacturer and supplier members also agree to adhere to additional voluntary guidelines as well as to CRN’s Code of Ethics. Visit www.crnusa.org. Follow us on Twitter @crn_supplements and @wannabewell and on Facebook.