UK supplements company rapped over lutein eye health claims

05-Aug-2009 - UK supplements manufacturer, Nature’s Best, has been rapped for making unsubstantiated claims that food supplements containing 10mg of lutein and berry extracts can protect the eyes.

EFSA issues plant stanol/sterol health claims advice

03-Aug-2009 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued an opinion on plant sterol and plant stanol ingredients to assist risk managers across the European Union to implement cholesterol-lowering claims.

Rooibos can fight cancer, says South African group

03-Aug-2009 - South African food maker, Fair Cape, has won official cancer-fighting recognition for a yoghurt fortified with an extract from the native South African Rooibos plant.

Danone to resubmit EU probiotic health claims

28-Jul-2009 - Danone, the French dairy giant, will resubmit withdrawn gut and immunity probiotic health claims to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), after receiving guidance from the European Union’s head science body.

UK broadsheet questions probiotic efficacy

27-Jul-2009 - Industry has hit back at an article that appeared in the UK Guardian newspaper at the weekend which questioned the role of probiotics in nutrition.

EU health claim rules cast shadow over science kingdom

24-Jul-2009 - The 2006 EU nutrition and health claims regulation is putting the brakes on the commissioning of trials to back claims, according to Cédric Bourges-Sevenier, PhD, general manager at French science and regulatory consultancy, Nutraveris.

Prebiotic follow-on formula ads censored in UK

23-Jul-2009 - The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled against Nutricia-owned Milupa over adverts promoting its prebiotic-fortified, follow-on formula, Aptamil.

Making the most of isoflavone marketing

22-Jul-2009 - The manner in which pre-menstrual and menopausal indications for soy and red clover isoflavones that recently won approval from the European Patent Office can be translated into marketing messages, is being debated among soy players.

EFSA health claim opinion

EFSA rejects probiotic immunity health claim

21-Jul-2009 - The string of probiotic health claim rejections has continued with the European Food Safety Authority rejecting another emerging science dossier for failing to demonstrate its proposed health benefit.

EFSA opinion against four probiotic and prebiotic health claims

17-Jul-2009 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has rejected three article 13.5 probiotic and prebiotic health claims and one article 14 claim linking prebiotics with a range of benefits from immunity to diarrhoea for failing to demonstrate causality.

Urgent article 13.1 health claims dialogue needed, says CIAA

16-Jul-2009 - The pressure is mounting for formal discussions between industry and the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on more than 4000 generic health claim submissions, with the CIAA urging immediate dialogue.

‘Better no regulation than a bad regulation’ say EU omega-3 scientists

15-Jul-2009 - A group of prominent lipid scientists has petitioned the EU calling for a rethink of draft daily reference intake levels for omega-3s they fear will only confuse consumers and disadvantage marine-sourced omega-3 suppliers.

EFSA: First article 13.1 health claim opinions delayed until September, 2009

15-Jul-2009 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Commission have acknowledged for the first time that the July 31 deadline for publication of the first batch of health claim opinions will not be met.

EU omega-3 recommendations welcomed by industry

13-Jul-2009 - Major omega-3 suppliers have welcomed the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) omega-3 opinion on recommended daily consumption levels for EPA and DHA but will continue lobbying for higher levels.

EFSA receives alternative article 13.1 claims assessment model

07-Jul-2009 - Food industry associations have banded together to present the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) with an alternative model for assessing article 13.1 health claims.

EFSA says ‘no’ to probiotic health claims guidance

02-Jul-2009 - The European Food Safety Authority is unlikely to consider setting guidance for probiotic health claims, despite mounting pressure from industry and the scientific community stressing the need for a clear regulatory framework.

Probiotics to boom despite trust issues, says researcher

01-Jul-2009 - Brits are responding to successful marketing from the likes of Danone and Yakult and embracing digestive health products such as probiotic yoghurts and drinks, but the market has plenty of room for further growth, according to a Datamonitor report.

UK Dairy Council calls for health claims common sense

26-Jun-2009 - The UK Dairy Council has welcomed the European Food Safety Authority’s recent statements about greater transparency in its nutrition and health claims assessment process, but warned now-valid claims in member states were in jeopardy.

Guest article

EU health claims conversation must continue

25-Jun-2009 - Nigel Baldwin is one of Europe’s canniest consultants when it comes to the tricky business of European Union nutrition and health claims. He was at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) stakeholder’s meeting in Brussels on June 15 and came away with mixed feelings.

EU omega-3 levels must be higher, say UK academics

22-Jun-2009 - It will be too easy for omega-3 bearing functional foods to make content claims under a proposed amendment to European nutrition and health claims rules, according to UK researchers.

Europe to get omega-3 food content claim

19-Jun-2009 - A draft amendment to the 2006 nutrition and health claims regulation will see omega-3 content claims permitted across the European Union for the first time, possibly by year’s end.

Inneov calls for cosmeceuticals claims clarity

18-Jun-2009 - Inneov, the joint venture between Nestle and L’Oreal to develop beauty supplements, says regulatory clarity is needed in the area of beauty claims on non-topical beauty applications that in many cases fall between cosmetics and food law.

Summit shows EU health claims change not coming, says ERNA

17-Jun-2009 - Shane Starling met with Patrick Coppens, the secretary general of the European Responsible Nutrition Alliance (ERNA), after the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) article 13.5 and 14 health claim stakeholders meeting on Monday in Brussels.

EFSA: Health claims summit ‘very successful’

17-Jun-2009 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says the detailed guidance it gave to industry at Monday’s technical health claims meeting will ensure “shared, mutual understanding” in the health claims evaluation process.