Overview
- A group of scientists, doctors and consumer advocates sent a formal letter to the federal ministries for food and for economic affairs on September 26, 2026 calling for an end to the current registration-only market for botanical supplements.
- Under current law manufacturers must only register products with the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety before sale, which means there is no routine pre-market safety review of botanically based supplements.
- Experts highlighted the scale of the issue by noting more than 30,000 food supplements were registered in Germany in 2025, showing a large volume of mostly unreviewed products entering the market.
- The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has said data on many bioactive botanical ingredients are limited, which makes it hard to assess toxicology and set safe intake levels for consumers.
- The letter asks lawmakers to require clear registration data, continuous testing of raw materials and finished products with recognized methods, tighter checks on health claims, and cites Switzerland, France and Belgium as models for stronger documentation and control.