The Food and Drug Administration has found another banned stimulant in many dietary supplement products.
The agency issued warnings to 14 companies for 17 products that have labels showing the supplements contain the stimulant DMBA. The problem is the agency never approved DMBA as a dietary ingredient.
If the companies don’t bring their products into compliance, they could be seized by the agency.
Just a week ago, the FDA warned five companies for including a potentially dangerous stimulant called beta-methylphenethylamine.
Under existing law, the FDA can’t remove products from the market until they are found to be adulterated or misbranded, the agency said Wednesday.
Unlike regular drugs, the FDA does not review and approve a supplement before it hits the market. However, supplement makers do have to meet manufacturing quality and labeling regulations.
The ingredients of supplements have come under intense scrutiny. A group of 14 state attorneys general wrote to Congress urging lawmakers to investigate the industry.
The effort is led in part by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has found herbal supplements made by Walgreens, Target, Walmart and GNC to have unlisted ingredients. All of the retailers pulled their products from New York shelves in response to a subpoena from Schneiderman.
GNC has since agreed to boost its ingredient testing and its supplements have returned to shelves.
The 14 companies warned by the FDA on Tuesday are Vital Pharmaceuticals, Powder City, Prime Nutrition, Beta Labs, Genomyx LLC, Lecheek Nutrition, Iron Forged Nutrition, Nutrex Research, Blackstone Labs, 1ViZN, Core Nutritionals, RPM Nutrition, Brand New Energy and DSEO.
Iron Forged would not comment and DSEO and Brand New Energy could not be reached for comment. The other companies did not immediately return requests for comment on the warnings.
