Regulation in Türkiye

What documents does supplement regulation in Türkiye rest on?

The Law defines a food supplement as a product, with a defined daily intake dose and prepared in capsule, tablet and similar forms, that supplements the normal diet and consists of concentrates or extracts of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, fatty acids and amino acids, or of plants, plant- and animal-derived substances and bioactive substances with nutritional or physiological effects. ^[1] The articles of the Regulation and the Communiqué reported here rest on the published text; for later amendments, the current legislative text is the basis. Communiqué 2013/49 was prepared in parallel with EU Directive 2002/46/EC. ^[3]

How does the approval process work?

Under Article 10 of the Regulation, food supplements cannot be produced, processed, imported or placed on the market without approval. ^[2] The business submits its file to the provincial directorate; the evaluation of products that are positively listed on the Plant List set by the Ministry and consist of a single plant or of a single component with a limit set in the relevant legislation falls outside the duties of the Food Supplement Commission (TEGK) and is carried out by the provincial directorate; other products are sent by the provincial directorate to the Ministry and from there to TEGK. TEGK is a 15-member board made up of 6 representatives from the Ministry, 3 from the Ministry of Health and 3 scientists chosen by each of the two ministries. ^[2] Under the Regulation, the list of approved products and of the businesses that produce, process and import them is published on the Ministry’s official website ^[2]; the Ministry states that the approval status of products can be searched through the “List of Approved Food Supplements.” ^[9]

The Communiqué requires that vitamins and minerals be used only in the forms listed in the annex, that botanicals comply with the Ministry’s Plant List and other substances with the Ministry’s “Prohibited and Restricted Substances List,” and that products be offered to the final consumer only in ready packaged form. ^[4] With the 2015/44 amendment, for products containing vitamins and minerals the daily amount stated on the label must be at least 15% of the nutrient reference value for ages 11 and over, and no food supplement can be produced for under 2 years of age. ^[4]

The Plant List and the Restricted Substances List

The Plant List was first published on 31/01/2006 and has been updated since; plants appear in the list as positive (P) or negative (N). In the Ministry’s scientific opinion on Withania somnifera, the root and aerial parts of the plant are marked negative in the list and the commission recommended at its 22/12/2023 meeting that this continue; the reasons include reports of liver toxicity in clinical trials. ^[6] The Restricted Substances List contains daily upper limits per ingredient and “not found suitable” decisions (last updated 21/09/2026). Examples from the list:

These limits are legal marketing limits; they do not mean that an amount is safe or effective. Because the Communiqué requires botanicals to comply with the Plant List, the root and aerial parts of ashwagandha being negative in the list is an obstacle to supplement approval. ^{[4] [6]} Ashwagandha details are in the ashwagandha guide.

The line between medicine and supplement: TİTCK and the Ministry

The Ministry states that legal regulations on the sale of medicines are under the authority of the Ministry of Health, that no product is approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry under a medicine name, and that there is a ban on putting drug ingredients in foods and food supplements. ^[10] TİTCK’s health claims Regulation defines a human medicinal product as a substance presented as having properties for treating or preventing disease, or that corrects physiological functions through a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action, and prohibits the use of health claims on products that carry the same name as a human medicinal product. ^[7] TİTCK’s list document states that the operations and processes and the placing on the market of foods and food supplements are carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, that a food supplement is not a medicine, and that there is no food supplement approved by the Ministry of Health. ^[8]

Health claims: the TİTCK list

The Regulation dated April 20, 2023 governs the use of health claims on the label, in the promotion or in the advertising of foods and supplements; a claim cannot be vague, false or misleading, cannot encourage excessive consumption of a specific product, and the claims in the annexes of the relevant guideline can be re-evaluated, suspended or cancelled when considered necessary for public health. ^[7] In TİTCK’s “Complete List of Health Claims” document, claims for probiotic microorganisms and prebiotic components were suspended by the Authority Approval (Makam Olur) of September 27, 2024, and the document states that the evaluation is continuing and that products using the claim may carry it only on their current labels. ^[8] For details on the probiotic side, the probiotics guide can be consulted.

Label and advertising rules

Under Article 13 of Communiqué 2013/49, products are placed on the market under the name “food supplement”; the label, presentation and advertising cannot carry statements declaring or referring to a property of preventing, treating or curing a disease, nor statements implying that nutrients cannot be met by an adequate and balanced diet; the label carries the recommended daily serving and the statements “Do not exceed the recommended daily serving.”, “Food supplements cannot replace a normal diet.”, “Keep out of the reach of children.”, “Not a medicine. Not used to prevent or treat diseases.” and “Consult your doctor in pregnancy and breastfeeding, and in cases of illness or medicine use.” (2015/44 expanded the last statement to “or a more restrictive statement if required for the product”). ^{[3] [4]} Under the Regulation, the provincial directorate examines the advertising and promotion of a product for which an approval application has been made, and advertising and promotion in violation of the legislation, other than the declared domain name and URL, is subject to administrative sanction. ^[2] Label reading principles are in the guide how to read a label.

The 342nd meeting of the Advertisement Board (Reklam Kurulu) on 13 February 2024 took food supplements and health claims as its main agenda: of the 185 files discussed at the meeting (including all agenda items), 157 were found to be in violation of the legislation, and administrative fines totaling TL 24,016,573 were decided together with cessation penalties; for the 47 files found in violation among advertisements of products with health claims and of healthcare services, administrative fines totaling TL 9,126,735 were applied. ^[11]

E-commerce and sales channels

Under Article 13 of the Regulation, food supplements are offered for sale at the sales point of the importer, producer or processor, at the food businesses to which they are supplied or their wholesale warehouses, at the domain names and URL addresses declared by the food business operator, or through a direct seller under contract. ^[2] The Ministry states that food supplements for which it has not issued approval cannot be placed on the market through any sales channel, including online sales. ^[10]

Sports foods are a separate Communiqué

The Ministry states that sports foods are not food supplements. ^[9] Communiqué 2018/50 (OG January 17, 2019) limits the use of creatine monohydrate in sports foods to 5 g at the recommended daily dose and requires the label to carry a warning that creatine may cause gastrointestinal discomfort in some people and may impair kidney function. ^[12] Because creatine and phosphocreatine, together or separately, appear in the Restricted Substances List for food supplements with a 3 g/day limit, there are two separate legal frameworks for creatine (sports food: 5 g; food supplement: 3 g). The evidence and doping dimension for athletes is on the page supplements for athletes.

Inspection and sanctions

The Ministry states that inspections are carried out on a risk basis at sales and production sites and at the actual import stage, that in case of non-conformity actions such as administrative fines, criminal complaints to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and withdrawal of products from the market are applied, and that products found to contain drug ingredients are shared with the public; according to its announcement of 5 October 2022, 308 administrative fines were imposed and 35 criminal complaints were filed with prosecutors as a result of 12,773 inspections and controls in the last two years. ^[10] The Regulation also gives the Ministry precautionary authority, such as stopping the production or entry into the country of a product, banning its placing on the market and use, and withdrawing it, when the possibility of a harmful effect on human health emerges. ^[2]

Türkiye, the EU and the US: a brief comparison

This comparison gives only the outlines stated in the sources; EU botanicals and Member State practice and US structure/function claim rules require separate evaluation.

How is regulatory information used?

Legislation determines whether a product can be sold; it does not determine whether it is effective or necessary. What a supplement is is covered in the guide what are supplements, the question of need in do you need supplements, safety topics in are supplements safe, drug interactions in drug interactions, and timing in when to take supplements. This guide is not legal advice; for product and claim questions, the current announcements of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and TİTCK are the basis, and for health decisions a physician or pharmacist is consulted.