Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that any risk management decision on ashwagandha food supplements is proportionate to the available evidence and preserves consumer access to a herb with thousands of years of documented safe use.

The Department has not assessed the economic impact on United Kingdom businesses of any restriction or ban on ashwagandha for use in food supplements. Legislation on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods sets out the legal framework for the use of substances such as ashwagandha in food supplements, with further information available at the following link:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02006R1925-20190515

Scientific assessments of food safety risks are carried out by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The FSA has asked its expert committee, the Committee on Toxicity (COT), to assess the available scientific evidence on the safety of food supplements containing ashwagandha. This work is ongoing and focuses on potential risks to human health. It is outside the remit of COT to look at economic impact.

A subsequent risk management decision would be informed by this scientific evidence and would consider actions that are proportionate and necessary to protect public health. This would be a matter for the Department and the devolved administrations to consider together once that scientific advice is available.