Formulated supplementary sports food

All biosecurity requirements must be met before Imported Food Inspection Scheme requirements apply.

Check our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) for biosecurity import conditions.

Food type

Formulated supplementary sports food (FSSF) includes products specifically formulated to assist sports people achieve nutritional or performance goals.

Exclusions

Food from New Zealand.

Inspection and testing

This food is classified as a surveillance food.

We refer consignments for inspection at the rate of 5%. During inspection, we will conduct a visual and label assessment to ensure FSSFs do not contain substances considered to pose a risk to human health. These include:

• substances scheduled under the Poisons Standard
• certain substances assessed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) as presenting a potential medium or high risk to public health
• ingredients that are non-permitted novel foods.

We will check for substances listed in Table 1. These are considered to pose a risk to human health.

We will update this list pending decisions that a substance presents a risk to human health based on advice from FSANZ, the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods (ACNF) or on other evidence.

Your product may be assessed as a therapeutic good at inspection due to the presence of certain claims and substances.

We refer products assessed as a therapeutic good to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

We also check that ingredients do not include:

• prohibited botanicals
• non-permitted nutritive substances
• permitted nutritive substances at non-permitted levels.

¹ Determined to be a non-permitted novel food by the Advisory Committee for Novel Food.

When is a product a therapeutic good?

The TGA has declared that therapeutic goods (medicines) include sports supplements:

• containing ingredients not acceptable for food (for example, medicinal ingredients)
• presented like medicines (for example, in capsules).

We will refer sports supplements to the TGA for follow up action if the product:

• makes claims to performance in sport, exercise or recreational activity
• contains certain substances declared by the TGA as not acceptable for food.

A claim may be made expressly or be communicated by the overall presentation of the product. This includes imagery and advertising.

Novel foods

A novel food is a non-traditional food that must be assessed by FSANZ to establish its safety before being added to the food supply. The ACNF recommends whether certain foods or food ingredients are novel foods.

A FSSF cannot contain a novel food unless it is listed in Schedule 25 of the Code.

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