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You’ve probably heard about the EU Food Supplements Directive, legislation that was introduced in 2005 to govern the vitamins and minerals that could be used in supplements.

What you may not know is that this Directive has two parts. The first, which is already in force, gives Positive Lists of the vitamins and minerals that are allowed to be used and indicates which forms of those vitamins and minerals can be used. These Positive Lists have just been updated to include many more of the most popular vitamin and mineral forms.

The second part, though, deals with the setting of what are termed Maximum Permitted Levels (MPL). Once set, these MPLs will govern the maximum amount of an ingredient from the Positive List that can be included in a supplement, or be recommended for daily intake.

Currently, the UK enjoys a privileged position as far as supplements are concerned in that optimum strength products are not considered medicines and so are freely available for sale. This is not the position in most of the rest of Europe, where higher strength supplements are more strictly governed and less freely available. Many industry groups fear that – because of this – MPLs will be set very low and the UK consumer will lose their freedom to choose.

Consumers for Health Choice is one such industry group, and they have been working tirelessly with industry, the Food Standards Agency, the Government and the EU Commission to try and protect the freedom of choice for UK consumers. They continue to battle on our behalf, but still need as much support as they can get.

Their website – www.consumersforhealthchoice.com - contains a wealth of information about their fight against the Food Supplements Directive and (more importantly) gives details of how you can become involved.

It is vitally important that the powers-that-be know how strongly UK consumers feel about this issue, so even if you’ve written to your MP or MEP before, you should do so again. Follow the guidelines on the Consumers for Health Choice website for who you can write to, and what you should say.

Thanks for your help.