Five products claiming to aid children’s growth make exaggerated claims or have misleading descriptions, the Consumers’ Foundation said yesterday, calling on authorities to fine the companies behind the products.
The products’ labels promise an “improved constitution,” “increased activity in the epiphyseal plates” which are responsible for bone growth, “increased secretion of growth hormones,” “improved bone growth,” “increased absorption of nutrients,” “stimulating second growth in bones” and “improved growth rate,” the foundation said.
Such labels violate Food and Drug Administration labeling rules, the foundation said.
Photo: CNA
Picture labels indicating changes in height and reading “fastest growth,” “grow 5cm to 12cm in no time,” “grow 5cm in 4 months” and the like also contravene the regulations, the foundation said.
Of the five offending companies, the foundation said that one, whose labels said it could “prevent osteoporosis,” might have violated rules prohibiting exaggeration of medical effects.
The offenders should be fined in accordance with the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), it said.
Under the act, producers whose labels exaggerate effects or give misleading directions could be fined NT$40,000 to NT$4 million (US$1,309 to US$130,929) and brands that are found to make spurious health claims could be fined NT$60,000 to NT$5 million.
Yu cited a 2015 poll by the China Grain Products Research & Development Institute on dietary supplements as estimating the value of the local dietary supplement market at NT$71.6 billion per year.
The government should especially step up checks on products of unknown origin sold at night markets or on underground radio stations, he said.
Height is determined by genetics, nutrition, sleep quality and quantity of exercise, Yu said, adding that parents should first improve their children’s dietary and living habits if they worry about their height.
Additional reporting by CNA
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