The FSSAI on Thursday said presence of doping substances in food supplements posed a major challenge and efforts were needed to save the reputation of the supplements industry.

Pointing out that India stands at third position in doping cases, the FSSAI cautioned food supplements manufacturing and processing industry to be aware of the threat of doping substances in supplements.The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) had circulated a list of banned drugs to the Food Safety Commissioners and Maharashtra had started enforcement against anti-doping practices, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal said."Major enforcement exercise is going on in Maharashtra against anti-doping substances. You do need all these efforts to be taken up on an ongoing basis. It is to save the reputation of food supplements," he said at a seminar on nutraceuticals organised by FICCI here.

There have been reports that some supplement manufacturers add performance-enhancing and banned drugs in food supplements."In case of food supplements, major challenge we face is all kinds of spurious, dubious products in the market. There is growing instances of doping substances that are seen and being noticed in some of the food supplements," Agarwal said.