• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai , April 23

WHY are ayurvedic product manufacturers wary of the proposed Integrated Food Bill? Well, herb-based products based on insufficient stability and efficacy tests may find their way into the local markets in the guise of a nutraceutical or a food-supplement.

And worse, they will promise the benefits of ayurveda, caution representatives with ayurvedic companies.

Making a strong case for clarity between ayurvedic products and nutraceuticals, an old hand with the ayurveda segment said: Ayurvedic products should be kept outside the purview of the Food Bill. Nutraceuticals, on the other hand, should be classified as food.

An ayurvedic product is based on the "grantha"; it has to go through the rigeurs of manufacturing and testing before getting approvals from the Ayurvedic directorate for marketing the drug locally.

The worry is that unscrupulous manufacturers may use herbs or rely on traditional ayurvedic knowledge to develop a product.

They will then market it as food, to circumvent the stringent processes of a regular ayurveda product, an industry representative apprehends.

This way, they also rob the traditional knowledge segment of its credit, he points out.

"Food supplements should also not be allowed to make curative claims or claims that it can treat a particular disease," points out Mr Pulin Shroff, Managing Director of Charak Pharma.

A host of pharma companies and corporates flush with funds are looking at the nutraceuticals segment, an estimated $1 billion market globally. No authentic figures are available for the local market, but companies such as Nicholas Piramal, Dabur, Parry's, Ranbaxy and Cipla already have or harbour plans to get into the segment.

With copycat drugs outlawed by the recent Patents Amendment Act 2005, domestic pharma companies are looking for avenues to sustain their sales.

And nutraceuticals is one such money-spinner, observes a representative with a Fast Moving Consumer Goods company that has an ayurvedic cosmetic line.

Given the ground realities, ayurvedic industry representatives have presented their case to the Ministry of Health to ensure that the equity of the traditional segment does not get eroded by unscrupulous manufacturers. Genuine nutraceutical products, however, can make ayurvedic claims, but they must be able to substantiate it, an ayurvedic manufacturer adds.

Underlining the need for clarity in the law, he said, in the US there is the Dietary Supplements and Health Education Act 1994 that defines labelling, functional claims and manufacturing practices.

Any health or curative claim needs to be cleared by a drug authority, he said.

Changes in the US law allowed specific nutraceuticals to make broad health claims, but no disease claims, says Charak's Mr Shroff.

For instance, a Trifla can only say, "aids in digestion," he said.

Japan has the Functional Food for Specific Use directive, allowing 26 ingredients that can make health claims. And in Europe, it is unclear how the Functional Food directive will view health claims.

With a host of imported and domestic food-supplements already in the Indian market, ayurvedic manufacturers fear that consumers may opt for the contemporary nutraceutical, sold on the promise of an ayurvedic claim, rather than an ayurvedic product itself.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
`BPO industry must re-brand itself'

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line