FSSAI, NADA join hands to put check on doping cases

New Delhi: Alarmed by the increase in the cases of doping among athletes owing to contamination in food supplements, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has joined hands with National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to put a check on the menace.

"Given that number and spread of a wide variety of nutritional food supplements makes it difficult to find traces of banned or adulterated substances in the open market, the FSSAI would ensure availability of safe and dope-free nutritional supplements for the sports professionals catering to their health and nutritional needs," FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said.

The FSSAI on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NADA to focus on ensuring coordination of co-operative activities within government agencies in order to address the issue of doping substances and other adulterants in food supplements used in sports.

As per the agreement, the FSSAI would undertake surveillance and enforcement activities for both domestically produced and imported sports-nutrition supplements with a particular focus on any use of doping substances and other adulterants in such products and on counterfeit products.

It would also help in building the capacity of the regulatory staff for effective surveillance and enforcement activities at the ground level, Agarwal said, adding that education and awareness support on the safe and judicious use of sports-nutrition supplements would also be provided through guidance documents, training and awareness programme in partnership with other stakeholders.

"As a part of the MoU, a working group has also been set-up for more focused work in this direction. The group will comprise of members of the FSSAI scientific panel on functional foods, nutraceuticals, dietetic products and other similar products along with representatives of NADA," Agarwal said, adding that representatives of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Narcotics Control Bureau and others, as and when required, may be co-opted in the working group.