In brief

On 30 December 2021, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) announced that it had detected potent adulterants in five products that were marketed on local e-commerce and social media platforms. The HSA has since removed the affected listing and issued warnings to sellers of said products.

Key takeaways

While there are currently no registration or licensing requirements in relation to the import, manufacture or sales of health supplements, dealers must comply with the HSA’s safety and quality standards. The addition of medicinal ingredients such as steroids is prohibited, and there are strict toxic heavy metal, microbial, vitamin and mineral limits.
Anyone found to have supplied products that are adulterated may be imprisoned for up to 3 years and/or fined up to SGD 100,000 upon conviction.

Background

A majority of the affected products were marketed as health supplements that purported to bring about restorative or metabolic effects such as the treatment of joint pain or weight loss.

Sellers have been directed to stop the sale of the affected products immediately.

The full HSA announcement may be found here.

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