Latin America Gets First Regional Supplement Association

Coordinated by IADSA’s Latin American Working Group, the Latin American Responsible Nutrition Alliance (ALANUR) is the first of its kind in the region, made up initially of 10 companies who market their products in more than 10 countries.

Sep 21 2011 --- Food supplement companies across Latin America have come together to form a regional association to help create an optimal regulatory and policy environment for the growing supplement market.

Coordinated by IADSA’s Latin American Working Group, the Latin American Responsible Nutrition Alliance (ALANUR) is the first of its kind in the region, made up initially of 10 companies who market their products in more than 10 countries.

The association is open to responsible food supplement manufacturers and suppliers with a Latin American base, who are marketing products in Latin America, or who have significant market position in one country in the region.

“The trend across the globe, including across Latin America, is towards more rather than less regulation, more demanding legislation, and a greater need for high quality, scientific, technical, regulatory guidance to decision-makers,” said David Pineda, IADSA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs. “Legislation is a critical factor in determining market opportunities and market entry. The aim of ALANUR is to ensure a clear and enforced regulatory framework for food supplements covering a broad range of safe ingredients, appropriate globally recognised manufacturing standards and technical requirements, and sufficient consumer information.”

Since there is no harmonisation in Latin America, challenges for marketing food supplements across the region currently range from different classifications of products in the different countries and restrictive definitions and levels of vitamins and minerals, to broad restrictions on the use of botanicals and challenges relating to the use of health claims, as well as time and resource consuming registrations.