Dispatches from FIE

Provexis enjoys fruits of health claims victory

19-Nov-2009 - Provexis chief executive officer, Stephen Moon tells Shane Starling why becoming the first company to achieve an article 13.5 proprietary health claim has been such a boon to his company.

Weekly comment

Life in a European health claims wasteland

09-Nov-2009 - Ka-CHING! Hear that? No it’s not the sound of overflowing cash registers as consumers throw endless wads of euros at scientifically-backed, healthy foods in greater numbers than ever before.

Talking point

Are EU health claims dooming innovation – Your views

06-Nov-2009 - NutraIngredients asked its readers for their views on whether the EU health claims regulation is stifling innovation in Europe. And we received a lot of responses...

Threat of EU health claims legal challenge grows

06-Nov-2009 - Three of Europe’s largest food supplement and healthy product trade groups have issued a 17-page paper that lays out its many concerns with the scientific approach being taken by EFSA in regard to health claims.

Guest article

EHPM: health claim rules are flawed and killing innovation

05-Nov-2009 - The European Union health claims regulation is a good idea being badly implemented according the Peter van Doorn, the chairman of leading trade group, EHPM. The economic fall-out may lead to the regulation being dragged before the courts, he argues, in this exclusive guest article.

Weekly comment

Clinical trials are EFSA’s fool’s gold

02-Nov-2009 - There’s gold to be found in them health claims mountains, but prospectors from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) must be happy with the little chunks that add up to a lot, and stop searching for nuggets the size of your fist.

Talking point

Will health claims doom innovation in Europe?

30-Oct-2009 - Hope that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) might moderate its clinical-trial weighted approach for general health claims in the EU dried up on October 1, when it rejected 70 per cent of 500+ dossiers, including 181 of 181 probiotic dossiers.

EFSA affirms omega-3 can benefit baby brains and eyes

28-Oct-2009 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has confirmed that the omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and ALA, can benefit eye and cognitive development in babies.

Nutrient database can assist health claims

27-Oct-2009 - Pooling nutrient information is becoming an important and time efficient way for companies scientific data about nutrients – especially those seeking to back health claims under the European Union’s tough claims system.

Tate & Lyle backs Asian prebiotic in Europe

26-Oct-2009 - A new partnership with chemical group Solvay will enable the distribution of a low dosage prebiotic food ingredient with multiple food and drink applications within Europe, the Middle East and Africa, claims Tate & Lyle.

Special edition: Healthy chocolate

Regulation: the rules governing healthy chocolate

23-Oct-2009 - In the final part of our series on healthy chocolate, NutraIngredients scans the regulatory landscape to see how the movement towards healthy cocoa offerings is being affected by the rules in some of the lands they are proliferating in.

Plant stanol and sterol claims now law in EU

23-Oct-2009 - Two of the three article 14 cholesterol-lowering health claim opinions relating to plant sterols and stanols have been written into the European Union legislature – along with 19 other claims.

EFSA publishes probiotic guidance

22-Oct-2009 - Genetic typing, internationally recognised naming protocols and evidence of consistency in the final product have been highlighted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as critical factors for probiotic health claim submissions.

Chr. Hansen highlights science behind probiotics

21-Oct-2009 - Chr. Hansen is remarketing its probiotics to underline their scientific backing as the industry reels from EFSA’s mass rejection of probiotic dossiers.

Health claim rules gag freedom of speech, says EU lobby group

19-Oct-2009 - Pan-European better nutrition advocate, the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), says the European Union health claims system is going way beyond its remit to protect consumer interests and curtailing freedom of speech.

Scientists attack proposed EU omega-3 DRVs

16-Oct-2009 - An international consortium of concerned lipid scientists says the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)-recommended omega-3 dietary reference values (DRVs) are seriously flawed and should be amended before they see the light of day in the European Union legislature.

July 2010: When EU health claim compliance reaches store shelves

15-Oct-2009 - The European Commission has set itself the goal of processing the 94 generic article 13.1 health claim opinions issued by EFSA recently by the end of January, meaning claim rulings could be enforceable at retail level by July, 2010.

UK censors Danone probiotic TV ads

14-Oct-2009 - The voluntary UK advertising watchdog has told Danone to cease broadcasting TV adverts that stated its one-shot probiotic drinking yoghurt, Actimel, could boost the immune system of children.

Red Bull: EFSA taurine rejection won’t affect energy claims

13-Oct-2009 - Global energy drinks leader, Red Bull, says the recent rejection of taurine-based energy health claims by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) won’t have any bearing on its own claim-making.

Green-lipped mussel supplier welcomes EFSA rejection

09-Oct-2009 - The green-lipped mussel extract market will benefit from the negative joint health claim opinion delivered by the European Food safety Authority (EFSA) last week because it has highlighted one-size-fits-all problems in the market, according to a leading supplier.

Scientists question EFSA probiotic logic

08-Oct-2009 - Three University of Reading scientists wrote to the European Commission in July expressing concern about EFSA’s approach to evaluating probiotic article 13.1 dossiers.

Scientists protest as EC validates omega-3 labelling rule

07-Oct-2009 - The group of international scientists that last week petitioned the European Commission to amend a mooted omega-3 labelling regulation they believe would confuse consumers, have vowed to continue their fight in the European Parliament, after the EC backed the regulation.

Yoghurt group unfazed by mass probiotics rejection

07-Oct-2009 - The European Food Safety Authority’s mass rejection of probiotic dossiers is not the disaster it appears if ‘technical’ obstacles can be overcome, according to a group that represents the biggest yoghurt players in the world.

Consumer press highlights probiotic health claim failures

06-Oct-2009 - Last week’s European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim opinions have received a lot of mainstream media attention in the UK national consumer press, with the probiotic claim rejections gaining the most attention.