U.S. flag An official website of the United States government
  1. Home
  2. Food
  3. News & Events from CFSAN
  4. CFSAN Constituent Updates
  5. FDA Sends Warning Letters to Multiple Companies for Illegally Selling Adulterated Dietary Supplements
  1. CFSAN Constituent Updates

FDA Sends Warning Letters to Multiple Companies for Illegally Selling Adulterated Dietary Supplements

What's New

May 11, 2022

On May 9, 2022, the FDA issued a Constituent Update (below) stating that Glanbia Performance Nutrition (Manufacturing), Inc. (Glanbia), along with 10 other companies, was illegally selling adulterated dietary supplements. However, the FDA has since determined that Glanbia was incorrectly identified and does not sell the products Uplift Max and Shred Her Max, which were cited in the FDA Warning Letter sent to the company on May 4, 2022.

The error occurred because the website on which the products Uplift Max and Shred Her Max are sold incorrectly stated that the site was the property of one of Glanbia’s subsidiaries, Optimum Nutrition.

Glanbia discovered this error and immediately notified the FDA. As a result, the Warning Letter the FDA issued to Glanbia has been retracted and the FDA is continuing its investigation to determine the responsible firm and reissue the warning letter.  

The FDA regrets the confusion this error has caused.

Original Constituent Update

May 9, 2022

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted warning letters to multiple companies for selling adulterated dietary supplements that contain, in some cases, new dietary ingredients (NDIs) for which the FDA has not received the required premarket NDI notifications and, in others, unsafe food additives. Some of the identified dietary supplements also are drugs, despite lacking approval, because they are intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease. These products could potentially harm consumers.

Warning letters were sent to the following companies:

The dietary supplements sold by the companies listed above contain one or more of the following ingredients: 5-alpha-hydroxy-laxogenin, higenamine, higenamine HCl, hordenine, hordenine HCl, and octopamine. The agency has previously expressed concern about several of these ingredients for reasons including, for example, the potential adverse effects of higenamine on the cardiovascular system.

Some of the products cited in the warning letters are also unapproved new drugs because they are intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease and they lack FDA approval. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, products intended to diagnose, cure, treat, mitigate, or prevent disease are drugs and are subject to the requirements that apply to drugs, even if they are labeled as dietary supplements, and generally require preapproval from the FDA. The agency has not evaluated whether the unapproved products subject to the warning letters announced today are effective for their intended use, what the proper dosage might be, how they could interact with FDA-approved drugs or other substances, or whether they have dangerous side effects or other safety concerns.

The FDA has requested responses from the companies within 15 working days stating how they will address these issues, or providing their reasoning and supporting information as to why they think the products are not in violation of the law. Failure to adequately address this matter may result in legal action, including product seizure and/or injunction.

For More Information

 

Subscribe to CFSAN Constituent Updates

Get email updates delivered to your inbox.

Back to Top