Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), said companies should be flexible and explore alternative sourcing options.
“I think the unpredictability of this is the biggest problem because we can’t give our companies good advice when you don’t know what will happen, whether a certain country will come in and negotiate a deal tomorrow,” he said. “And even while we’ve been here, we’ve seen the China tariffs go up and then the retaliatory tariffs back and forth. When you think of a lot of herbals, you can’t grow them anywhere you want, you have to grow them in certain parts of the world.”
Another issue that CRN is monitoring closely is state legislation that could impact its operations.
“We’ve been so focused on the age restriction bills around weight loss and muscle building, and we’re still very laser-focused on those bills,” he said.
“We’ve got legislation in Illinois that we’re particularly working on, but we’re also seeing states do other things now beyond just the age restrictions. You have states that are proposing to put restrictions on various ingredients, titanium dioxide [and] certain colorings. They’re deciding they’re not going to wait for FDA. They’re going to move on their own.”
Looking ahead, some of CRN’s priorities include defending against tariffs and advocating for the inclusion of dietary supplements in flexible spending accounts to make them more accessible and affordable for consumers.
To hear more on various bills in states, challenges that could come with yet another FDA reorganization and what’s next for CRN, watch the full interview.
