Health supplements and vitamins could be removed from UK shelves under Burnham's Brexit reset

Published: 18:44 EDT, 7 November 2026 | Updated: 19:01 EDT, 7 November 2026 EU rules could see popular health supplements and vitamins taken off shelves in Britain because of Andy Burnham's Brexit reset, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.The UK may be bound by Brussels's rules on vitamin strengths and packaging as part of a new Brexit deal to slash red tape.But that has raised the spectre of popular vitamin products vanishing from UK shops because of proposed EU rules to lower vitamin dosage limits.Critics fear it will also deal a body blow to Britain's £568million health supplements market. Almost half (41 per cent) of UK adults are estimated to take them daily.However, under rules being drawn up by Brussels the UK – and all EU member states – would lose the right to set their own rules on how vitamins and multi–vitamin products are sold.And under the proposed new EU scheme, the maximum permitted levels governing the sale of vitamin products would be slashed.The EU withdrew a recent consultation on it but has indicated it is still willing to press ahead with the idea.In the UK, it could mean that Vitamin D supplements on sale would be 80 per cent weaker than currently available based on a German suggestion. The UK may be bound by Brussels's rules on vitamin strengths and packaging as part of a new Brexit deal to slash red tape (file image)Supplements containing magnesium, potassium and other health products would also be drastically weakened, critics fear.Trade body the UK Health Supplements Alliance (UKFSA) has particularly raised concerns over post–menopausal women seeking to protect their bone health with vitamin D and pregnant women needing extra folic acid to prevent neural tube defects in their babies.Similar rule proposals from Brussels were roundly rejected in the UK in 2005 when they were first proposed and Britain was still an EU member. Over one million Britons signed a petition to oppose them.Now MPs have been warned by the UKFSA that the changes could have a 'detrimental impact on public health', potentially leading to gum disease as well as muscle weakness.And, in extreme cases children could develop rickets because of vitamin deficiencies, it warned.Health Food Manufacturers' Association (HFMA) director general Martin Last told the MoS: 'Popular products may well be removed from shelves, not for any safety issue, but due to changes of labelling requirements.'Tory MP Mike Wood, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, also raised fears for the potential health risks.He said: 'Andy Burnham clearly doesn't have the minerals to put the British public's best interests first.'He should stand up to this ill–informed, nanny–state nonsense and defend people's freedom to choose.'Millions of people use vitamins and supplements as part of their diet, and they play an important role in keeping people healthy.'Labour has conceded that the UK would have to follow EU rules once it has signed the draft UK–EU 'Sanitary and Phytosanitary' (SPS) agreement at the major Brexit re–set summit on November 20.That deal will see Britain paying millions to slash red tape on edible exports to the EU by making British products subject to EU regulationsHealth Minister Dame Diana Johnson said earlier this year that 'if EU Food Supplements Regulations are updated in the future to include maximum levels of vitamins and minerals, these regulations in Great Britain will be updated, too'.But the UKFSA branded the Brussels' proposals 'overly cautious, unscientific and inconsistent', saying that they would not be appropriate for consumers in the UK.A government spokesman said: 'Whatever hypothetical scenarios have been raised in this area, the reality is that the EU have not brought forward any final proposals, let alone begun formal consultation.'In the meantime, our food and drink deal with the EU will slash the red tape and costly paperwork that drives up supermarket prices and stifles trade, boost the British economy by up to £5 billion a year, and back British business and jobs.'