In recent years, the popularity and consumption of dietary supplements and functional foods has been increasing mainly due to consumers’ awareness of the role diet in the prevention of civilization diseases. There is also widespread conviction that such products do not endanger human health. Unfortunately in the European Union and the United States, dietary supplements are legally considered foods, so they are not subject to safety assessments prior to market entry. This fact is exploited by dishonest manufactures of both parapharmaceuticals and functional foods, which market fraud or adulterated products containing, for example, medicinal or desirable ingredients but in the wrong quantities and proportions. This study has shown that adulterated dietary supplements and functional foods directly or indirectly affect the safety of consumers and their health.

Keywords: public health, food fraud, food adulteration, dietary supplements, functional food.