SNE welcomes the publication today of the first-ever European wide standard to prevent the presence of doping substances in sports nutrition and food supplements
Brussels, 22nd February 2021: Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) welcomes the publication today of the first-ever European wide standard to prevent the presence of doping substances in sports nutrition and food supplements.
“From the very start of the discussions, our sector has been fully supportive of the development of this first-ever European wide standard to prevent the presence of doping substances in sports nutrition. We have been at the forefront to provide our expertise to build good development and manufacturing practices aimed at preventing the presence of prohibited substances in food intended for sportspeople. This is a pre-requisite to respond to European athletes and sportspeople’s demand for guarantees on the unintentional contamination of sports nutrition and food supplements by substances banned by anti-doping regulations and organisations, such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Over the last years, we have been actively engaged with our members and companies manufacturing sports nutrition to provide ambitious good development and manufacturing practices in this standard”, explains SNE Executive Director Aurelie Perrichet .
Through its status as liaison organization to the CEN/TC 453 “Dietary supplements and sports foods free of doping substances" since March 2019, SNE has been actively engaged in the development of this voluntary standard, setting out the requirements relative to the development and manufacture of sports food and food supplements.
To reduce the risk of the presence of substances prohibited by the WADA, a large range of good development and manufacture practices have been listed in the standard and should be followed by companies, so that the sports food can be labelled indicating its compliance with the requirements of this CEN standard. These requirements encompass a range of good development and manufacture practices as:
- The selection of ingredients,
- The selection of suppliers of ingredients and their commitments for ingredient supplies and traceability system,
- The competence of personnel,
- The design of premises and production tools,
- The documents control,
- The composition/ formulation of products,
- The management system of nonconformities, etc.
“This is a steppingstone to improve consumers’ information on doping in sports nutrition, delivering across Europe a common information for sports nutrition products complying with this new CEN standard. We are also pleased to see that a definition of “foods intended for sportspeople” has been included in this standard. SNE has been calling for the establishment of such a definition in the EU legislation for many years – as this is a pre-condition to recognise the specific nutritional needs of athletes and sportspeople. We hope this will serve as a reference in upcoming EU discussions to ensure the safe use of sports nutrition and improve consumers’ information”, added Aurelie Perrichet.
Notes to editors:
- Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) is the voice of the specialised nutrition industry across Europe. SNE members are the national associations of 19 European countries including a majority of EU states and their members are the companies producing tailor made dietary solutions for populations with very specific nutritional needs. These include: infants and young children, patients under medical supervision, sportspeople, overweight and obese consumers, and those suffering from coeliac disease.
- In the CEN standard, “food intended for sportspeople” are defined as “all food products which target sportspeople, irrespective of the EU legislation under which they are placed on the market (…). They are designed to optimize gains from training, enhance recovery within and between workouts and events, achieve and maintain an ideal body weight and composition. The labelling of food intended for sportspeople is clear in explaining the right conditions for product consumption. They particularly include products bearing authorized health claims that are related to sport and physical activity according to articles 13.1 and 13.5 of Regulation (EC) n°1924/2006 (…). Food intended for sportspeople includes sports drinks.”
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