The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to take legal action against the producers, advertisers and celebrity endorsers of a popular food supplement known as "Tang Chao" or caterpillar fungus-based products, for false advertising.
FDA deputy secretary-general Supattra Boonserm said charges would be laid following the exaggerated claims over Tang Chao's powers. "Some patients who believe them can lose the opportunity to get real medical treatment because they presume Tang Chao can help them," she said.
She said Tang Chao, which has become a popular superfood, was not medicine and that the FDA had only approved the registration of Tang Chao as a food supplement or as an ingredient in some Thai traditional medicines.
The FDA examined three ads that appeared on satellite TV and found they violated its regulations on false advertising, a crime that carries a penalty of up to to three years in prison and/or a fine up to 30,000 baht.
Ms Supattra said the ads portrayed Tang Chao as a wonder drug whose specific mixture of multi-vitamin B and UC-II (an undenatured form of type II collagen) promised various health benefits, including reduced blood-sugar levels, higher virility for men and even suppressed cancer cells.
The FDA is also looking at charging celebrity endorsers as some appeared in TV shows hailing Tang Chao as a powerful medicine that could even cure osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.