Sports nutrition trademark approved in Europe
ESSNA members sign up to its strict Code of Conduct, emphasising their commitment to quality and consumer safety and making a promise to the consumer that they uphold the laws put in place for their protection.
The trademark is intended to help the public differentiate between products that may be misleading or breaking the law, and those that sign up to ESSNA's Code.
Dr Adam Carey, Chair of ESSNA, said: “We are continuing to work diligently to improve consumer knowledge around our members’ products. The majority of the sports nutrition industry is responsible and law-abiding but unfortunately a handful of problematic companies still exist.
"Not only do these businesses pose risks to our consumers’ health by misleading them and potentially selling them illegal products, they damage the reputation of an otherwise responsible industry and result in unfair commercial practices.
"We recognise that many uninformed consumers gravitate towards these non-compliant products believing their misleading promises to be fact, and that’s what we’re trying to change with our campaign. We are hopeful that our new trademark will go some way towards helping the public make more informed decisions.”
The trademark is part of the association’s European-wide campaign to educate the public on all things sports nutrition and ensure consumer safety and good health.
Clamping down
ESSNA has also created a new online resource providing the public with information on how to ensure sports nutrition products are legitimate, and a Facebook page to encourage consumers to report products they find on the social media platform, which sees a high number of sales of sports nutrition products every day.
The alliance also revealed a new protein guide last year which provides ten steps for buying protein products in order to help shoppers choose products that are safe and appropriate for their health needs and goals.
