Many consumers don’t realize that supplements don’t go through an approval process by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they enter the market. In terms of the food and drugs that the agency regulates, energy drinks and supplements fall into the “food” category: After Recalls, Dietary Supplements with Banned Drugs Stay on Market November 9, 2014 by Carla Gillespie

About half of all FDA drug recalls in the last decade have been for dietary supplements that contain  banned ingredients. These recalls are meant to be swift enforcement actions that protect consumers from serious, sometimes life-threatening, conditions,  but in some cases these dangerous products remain on the market for longer than six months after they are recalled, according to a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

For the study, Harvard researchers looked at supplements recalled between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2012 that were still on the market with the same name, maker and distributor in July or August of 2013. Of the 274 dietary supplements recalled, 27 met these criteria.

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