When there are safety issues in the dietary supplement market, public health is at stake. This concern is compounded by the fact that digital distribution of dietary supplements also facilitates the entry of rogue and criminal actors into the market, tarnishing the reputation of legitimate suppliers and depriving them of exposure. 

The RDI project SafeNEM therefore launches the first interdisciplinary initiative in Austria, supported by key stakeholders, to strengthen the innovative power of reputable retailers and manufacturers in the digital market. The first step is the analysis of the digital market for dietary supplements and the subsequent development of the Alertify tool set, which semi-automatically detects products advertised online with illegal ingredients, problematic product labelling and dishonest health claims.

The prototype deployment of Alertify will be accompanied by investigative research into digital distribution channels and, in some cases, the development of new laboratory analyses to detect infringements. Alertify will be made available as open source to companies and to AGES (Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety). In the long term, an information service linked to Alertify will be developed, including measures for better risk communication at retail level, information & training for producers and warnings for consumers.