NEW SUPPLEMENTED FOOD STANDARD 2010 UNDERPINS SYN-TEC FUTURE GROWTH

Please be informed that there is a new food standard being introduced in New Zealand called the "Supplemented Food Standard".

This standard came into force on 31st March 2010.

The purpose of this standard is to...

(a) provide an interim regulatory arrangement for supplemented food until there are appropriate permissions in the FSANZ food Code; and

(b) regulate “food-type” dietary supplements that were formerly regulated under the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985.

Copy and paste this link into your browser for full details as released by NZFSA.

This will give you all a broad outline of the new standard and requirements that need to be met by manufacturers and distributors of food type dietary supplements that are manufactured in or imported into New Zealand for sale in New Zealand or exported from New Zealand into Australia under TTMRA legal parameters.

USA dietary supplement importers who import their products into Australia via New Zealand will also have to comply with these new standards to continue the import of such products into Australia under the Trans Tasman Mutual Recognition Agreement (TTMRA).

This may affect the sale of many USA sourced products whose labels will not meet the new required standard.

Note:

For our industry as a whole, label changes and in some cases formula changes will need be done to comply with the new "Supplemented Food" standard and there is a transition period of two years to allow for all current products to meet these new standards. Current food type dietary supplements are still legal to sell under their current presentation forms to allow time to sell through existing stocks, but all products must be transitioned by the 31st March 2012 at which time all food type dietary supplements must comply with the new standard. The "Supplemented Food" standard will ensure a consistent approach to both food and current food-type dietary supplements in terms of labelling and composition of products in the medium term.

Effect on Syn-Tec products.

Many sports nutritional supplements of which Syn-Tec has based its business model around are currently being sold as food type dietary supplements under the NZ Dietary Supplements Regulations and the "Supplemented Food" standard is intended to maintain permission for these products outside of a therapeutic jurisdiction until such time as the FSANZ code can be updated to accommodate them. Without the "Supplemented Food" standard, if sports nutritional supplements were to be regulated under the current FSANZ Formulated Supplementary Sports Food standard 2.9.4 as it currently stands, the majority of these products would be taken off the shelf, so regulators have seen fit to embrace a new standard for foods that are progressive in their design and able to meet the apparent consumer needs in regards to supporting sports persons in achieving their many nutritional and performance goals.

Syn-Tec will now be undertaking a progressive label update over the next eighteen months to integrate all of its current food type dietary supplements into the new "Supplemented Food" standard before the tansistion period ends on 3st March 2012. Some information on the labels will be changed and the words Dietary Supplement will be removed and replaced with the words "Supplemented Food" on all affected products in due course. Syn-Tec products that are currently manufactured to the Formulated Supplementary Sports Food standard 2.9.4 will not be affected as this standard already exists under the FSANZ food code. If there is an existing food code standard for a product, that product will not fall within the definition of a supplemented food.

In basic terms, the definition of a supplemented food is a food that has had a substance or a substance added to it or has been modified in some way to perform a physiological role beyond the provision of a simple nutritive requirement in relation to which the current FSANZ Code does not otherwise apply. This definition embraces the diverse formulas found within the Syn-Tec product range and will allow Syn-Tec to progress forward into the future with confidence and keep on pioneering diverse food type dietary supplements designed for sports persons.

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