The UK-based group said while industry was doing its best to “jump through the hoops and hurdles” of the 2006 nutrition and health claims regulation, and in a recessionary climate, The Sunday Times article had dealt a “nasty blow to those natural products suppliers.”

“The implication given in the article is that companies which have received negative opinions on health claims for which they have applied have been up until now promoting their products using false or misleading claims,” the ANH said.

“The reality is that this is simply not the case for the vast majority of companies.”

The group lay blame for the negative opinions at the door of the “obstacle course” it sees as the European Food safety Authority’s (EFSA) scientific criteria, and a standard of proof that is too high for the majority of food and supplements products.

The group accused the News International-owned Times newspaper group of having one standard for the food industry and another for the natural products industry.

“It’s funny how, when referring to the food industry generally, The Times paints EU rules as ‘unnecessary and burdensome over-regulation’, while for the natural products industry, the Brussels regulators have suddenly been portrayed as a special investigative body, out to expose unscrupulous health food sellers,” it said.