Dr. Hüseyin Kâmi BÜYÜKÖZER
What are supplements?! ….
Supplementary foods are products for which the daily intake dose is determined by preparing the concentrates or extracts of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, fatty acids, amino acids or other substances of plant and animal origin, bioactive substances and similar substances that have nutritious or physiological effects, alone or in mixtures, in special forms, to supplement the normal diet. There are capsules, tablets, lozenges, disposable powder packs, liquid ampoules, dropper bottles, and other similar liquid or powder forms.
Advertisements, and publications prepared to promote the products in question mislead the consumer. The consumption of these products, which are subject to permission, threatens human health. Promotions and advertisements cause misguided consumers to consume these products in uncontrolled amounts by ignoring the possible side effects of the product, and then to have physical and psychological disorders.
Beware of Internet sales
The internet, which has been indispensable for the transfer of information in recent years, has now become an important advertising intermediary in commercial sales. This virtual environment, where all kinds of sales are made, has also touched food and health products.
Now, when you open any web page, you see many ads that are irrelevant to that page and sometimes this causes very absurd situations.
Serious complaints have been coming to our association especially about the products offered for sale as supplementary food.
These products are offered for sale through internet, television advertisements, electronic commerce tools such as fax-telephone, mail, and often by unconscious and uninformed distributors, using the order method.
Inspections and controls of the products advertised and sold are an enigma. Unauthorized and unregistered foods are offered for sale. Foods for which a precautionary injunction decision has been taken are offered for sale, the production permit numbers of companies and products that do not belong to them are used, imitations of products that make a name in the market, and products without label information are offered for sale.
In addition, advertisements for these products may appear in front of children on sites where child visitors think there is no harmful content. For example, a 7-year-old child may encounter a wide variety of sexually explicit advertisements on the site he opens to play.
It is also an enigma to reach the real addresses of these product companies offered for sale in the virtual environment. Therefore, it is sometimes impossible to find an interlocutor.
For some reason, some of these companies cannot afford to be certified by a Halal Certification institution that the society trusts. Fortunately, companies have just started to show this courage. They expect consumers to discover themselves. Besides these responsible institutions, the most important audience is undoubtedly our consumers, who are the addressees of these products. For this reason, is it necessary to remind this audience that it is their material and moral interest to be conscious, to acquire the habit of questioning everything carefully, in order not to be tricked?
