The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday released draft regulations limiting the use of aloe plants as food ingredients, allowing the leaves of only two types of aloe to be processed into food.
The agency announced a re-drafted version of the Regulations Stipulating the Usage and Restrictions of Food Raw Material Aloe Vera and the Labeling of Food Products Containing Aloe Vera (食品原料蘆薈之使用限制及標示規定).
The revised regulations would stipulate that only the leaves of “aloe vera” and “aloe ferox” plants that have been completely peeled can be processed into food ingredients, and that their aloin content cannot exceed 10 parts per million (ppm).
The food products would also be required to carry a warning label that reads “not recommended for women during menstruation, as well as pregnant women, breastfeeding women, children, or patients with digestive tract disease or kidney disease,” the draft stipulates.
FDA Food Safety Division section chief Liao Chia-ding (廖家鼎) said there are more than 160 species of aloe plants, and the leaves of the aloe vera and the aloe ferox are the two most common types used in food, which are also the only two types allowed in food in the EU.
The plants are most commonly used as aloe vera cubes added to yogurt and as aloe extract capsules or tablets used as dietary supplement to improve bowel movement, he said.
However, the aloe plant contains the active ingredient aloin, which is a type of hydroxyanthracene derivative, Liao said.
Studies have suggested that long-term intake of food or supplements containing the substance might be toxic for the liver and kidneys, so the FDA referenced the International Aloe Science Council’s recommendation and set the maximum allowable aloin content at 10ppm, Liao added.
The draft regulations are set to be enacted on Jan. 1, 2022, and offenders would face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$3 million (US$1,036 to US$103,573) for contravening the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
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