Risk-assessment of FDA-registered, mangosteen-containing products available in an online-shopping platform

Date of Completion

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy

Keywords

Data mining, Mangosteen-containing food products, Risk levels, Registration status, e-Commerce platform

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically changed the public’s utilization of online shopping (e-commerce) platforms. In the past years, online consumer activity has increased involving not only essential commodities, but also food supplements and other health products. Mangosteen has been shown to have health benefits resulting from its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunity-enhancing activities. As food supplement, it is available as capsules, candies, tea powders, and juice drinks. Because of the accessibility offered by e-commerce platforms, the possibility of unsupervised use of mangosteen-containing food products heightens the risk to consumers. This study aimed to evaluate the risk level of the mangosteen-containing food products available in an e-commerce platform in the Philippines.

Methods: The data on available mangosteen-containing products were gathered from the e-commerce platform, Shopee. The search results were then sorted and validated in Google Sheets. The Philippine FDA portal was also used in order to check the registration status of the mangosteen- containing food products, as well as to check if the said products are also under the low, medium, or high-risk food products category. Duplicates and non-food products were excluded, and mangosteen-containing food products that did not appear on the Philippine FDA were put under a different category labeled “uncategorized”. The products were also categorized according to their risk levels, and their available forms.

Results: The results indicated that 48.9% of the high-risk mangosteen- containing food products were available as capsules in Shopee. Other high- risk mangosteen-containing products were available in the form of coffee (31.5%), tea (12.6%), and juice (7.1%). These data included those products bearing the same proprietary name. Of the unique products, 47.9% (n=82) are registered, while 52.1% (n=89) are unregistered. The registered products were then sorted to risk levels. The highest hits (36.8%, n=63) belonged to the high-risk level food products, followed by the low-risk (8.8%, n=15) and the medium-risk (2.3%, n=4). Capsules containing mangosteen were the most abundant, high-risk, registered products (44.4%, n=28). These were followed by coffee products (25.4%, n=16), juice (15.9%, n=10), and tea (14.3%, n=9).

Conclusion: Unregistered mangosteen-containing products outnumbered the registered products. Even among the registered products, a large number of high-risk mangosteen-containing food products were available in Shopee. High-risk food products require close monitoring by the Philippine FDA. This study shows that e-commerce platforms should also consider improving the safeguards in their policies to protect the safety of the public.

First Advisor

Sigfredo B. Mata

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