The following is an in-depth explanation of the supplement regulation issue. For a condensed version, visit https://thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=3397.

For nearly six years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has looked at many animal nutritional supplements as illegal. In April 1996, the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) published a notice in the Federal Register outlining the reasons why the FDA believes Congress did not intend for a law that allows human supplements to be manufactured and marketed legally to do the same for supplemental products used for animals. There now is a groundswell of state regulators who want to crack down on illegal ingredients in animal products, and equine products will not be immune.

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (hereafter called the Act) defines a drug as an article intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or an article intended to affect the structure or function of the body other than food. The Act defines a food as something that provides nutrition, taste, or aroma. But, if a product affects the structure or function of the body apart from its nutritive value, such as improvement in joint function, it can be considered a drug.

According to Sharon Benz, PhD, PAS, a member of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Nutrition and Labeling Team in the Division of Animal Feeds, Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), “Structure/function effects extending beyond the ‘food’ umbrella also include claims for improved or increased production and performance, or alteration or improvement in function