The National Agency for Regulation, Control, and Health Surveillance (ARCSA in Spanish) has released a draft for a Partial Reform to Resolution ARCSA-DE-028-2016-YMIH – Technical Health Regulations for obtaining the Health Notification and Control of Food Supplements in establishments where they are manufactured, stored, distributed, imported, and marketed.
Representatives of the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA in Portuguese) have warned about the poor quality of dietary supplements available in the national market. According to them, this sector leads the list of complaints regarding health violations and has a high number of disapproved products.
Representatives from both the agency and the supplement industry were interviewed by the Consumer Protection Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. For the companies, the solution lies in self-regulation and adherence to established legal standards.
The supplement sector receives the highest number of complaints regarding health violations, as stated by Renata de Araújo Ferreira, the inspection coordinator at ANVISA. Between 2020 and 2025, 63% of the investigations initiated by the agency involved these products. She emphasized that more than half of the complaints are related to misleading advertising of supplements sold on digital platforms, which complicates monitoring and oversight.
Renata Ferreira reported that ANVISA intends to employ artificial intelligence (AI) tools to expedite the identification of irregular products online. She confirmed that this technology has already been utilized, resulting in the removal of over 230,000 advertisements, approximately 60,000 of which were related to dietary supplements.
The Consumer Defense Commission of the Chamber of Deputies will discuss the quality and regulation of dietary supplements sold in Brazil. This discussion is in response to a request from Deputy Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE).
According to the congressman, the market for dietary supplements in Brazil has expanded in recent years, driven by the pursuit of health, wellness, and physical performance. He states that this increase in consumption has raised concerns regarding the quality and safety of these products.
Through Joint Resolution 33/2025, the Secretariat of Health Management and the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries amend the Argentine Food Code regarding health property claims on food and dietary supplements:
ARTICLE 1.- Article 235 of the Argentine Food Code (CAA) is replaced, and it will be worded as follows: “Article 235: On the labels or advertisements of food products disseminated through any graphic, audiovisual, or digital medium (including radio, television, social media, oral or written communication, among others), it is prohibited to make claims that these products possess medicinal and/or therapeutic properties. Only health property claims (DPS) authorized by the national health authority may be used, if applicable.”
ARTICLE 2.- The title LABELING in Article 1,381 is replaced, and it will be worded as follows: “LABELING: Dietary supplements shall be labeled with the sales designation ‘Dietary supplement based on…, (filling in the blank with the characteristic nutrients), in…, (filling in the blank with the form of presentation), for… (filling in with the target population group for which the product is intended, if applicable). The label of dietary supplements must comply with the general requirements established in Chapter V ‘Standards for the labeling and advertising of food’ and those determined in each specific case in this Code. Furthermore, the nutritional information must include the names of the nutrients and/or ingredients of interest, their contents per unit or per daily consumption recommendation proposed by the manufacturer, and, if applicable, the percentage of the RDI covered for each of them, according to the values established in the tables of Article 1,387.
The Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) has published Regulatory Instruction IN No 336, which modifies Normative Instruction No. 28, dated July 26, 2018, which establishes the lists of constituents, limits of use, declarations and complementary labeling of dietary supplements.
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