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The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority has repeated the control with focus on herb products used as food supplements in order to make sure that they are not contaminated with heavy metals.

The CAFIA inspectors took 24 samples of various products both of domestic and foreign origins, which were laboratory analysed for the contents of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, copper and lead. At the same time the inspectors assessed whether the products are properly labelled and provided with the so-called ”HEM”, which is a valid approval of the Czech Ministry of Health to the releasing of the appropriate product into circulation. As these products are classified as foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses, they cannot be manufactured or distributed without the above approval.

The results turned out encouraging: the valid MRL values were exceeded in the only case of mercury (Dao Chi Wan - a Chinese herb mixture, the contents of mercury found were 2.47 mg/kg, while the limit allows for 0.5 mg/kg); and distribution of this product was immediately banned. The other samples analysed complied with all the limits determined for heavy metals.

The inspectors identified some non-conformances in labelling in six cases, e.g., the missing label in the Czech language or the missing obligatory data required by the Ministry of Health. CAFIA ordered in such cases to remove the non-conformances.

The fear of potential contamination was not confirm though. Since the supportive preparations are very popular and their consumption has been growing, and the health effects of their potential contamination might be quite serious, CAFIA will continue to pay attention to the controls of food supplements also in future.