Law provides a framework to investigate the use of forced labour in companies’ supply chains. All goods made using forced labour to be halted at EU borders and withdrawn from the market.
Guidelines that determine the maximum levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids permitted in dietary supplements take effect this week, in the latest regulatory action that stretches back to 2011.
With the UK and the European Union now on divergent paths because of Brexit, what is the state of play for regulating hemp and CBD across the pond and where are the opportunities?
Deregulation and the lack of specific EU rules for specialised nutrition such as sports products pose concrete risks including consumer confusion, loss of innovation and market fragmentation.
Turning thick honey or chocolate syrup into a flowable powder can be done cheaply and easily thanks to a highly porous plating agent that can replace spray drying, says Ingredion.
Daily consumption of 1.7g of phytosterols by the millions of adults aged 55 and over in the EU with severe hypercholesterolemia could provide healthcare savings of €5.3 billion per year and prevent more than 170,000 hospitalisations.
Forget Brexit, the current state of the global economy or rising raw material costs. EU regulation is a bigger challenge for European nutrition companies than them all, new data suggests.
Belgium releases its third update to BELFRIT (Belgium, France, Italy) list of approved botanicals, as a list of more than 2, 000 health claims are still waiting to be approved by the European Commission.
Both regulators, and the industry itself, should be doing more to test and improve quality control of herbal supplements, says a report highlighting the issue of ‘hidden’ drugs in certain supplements.
Restricting mothers’ access to information about infant formula may have negative public health consequences, trade group Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) has said following a draft Romanian law banning the marketing of formula for under-2s.
Romania wants to ban the promotion of infant formula products for children up to the age of two years, but it remains to be seen whether this draft law will make it past EU scrutiny.
Amid the uncertainty of Brexit, supplement industry groups see opportunities for a more liberal UK regime outside the EU, but others question how much practical difference the UK’s split will make.
The UK government’s promise to underwrite EU research funding post Brexit is welcome, but ultimately too short term, director of Newcastle University’s Human Nutrition Research Centre has said.
The European Commission has said it is business as usual for UK researcher’s access to EU funding until official Brexit moves are made. Yet concerns persist as reports emerge of Brits already being dropped from EU projects and as long-term plans to plug...
The Dutch supplements industry is celebrating a court ruling that sleep aid melatonin cannot be classed as a medicine if its dosage is above a certain threshold.
Italy could ban high-dose vitamin and mineral supplements after a nutrition committee recommended vitamin B12 (cobalamin) above 500 micrograms (ug) was medicinal.
The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) will build links with remaining EU member states in the wake of the UK’s shock decision to leave the bloc, but its London HQ is in jeopardy.
With the World Health Organisation (WHO) and respected British journal The Lancet recently calling for tighter regulation and enforcement to better control infant formulae marketing, Aurélie Perrichet executive director of sector group Specialised Nutrition...
The global omega-3 finished product market was worth €28 billion in 2015 and is set for pan-sector growth in the coming years to add €5bn by 2018, despite sustainability and scientific challenges.
Harmonisation of Turkish and EU food law make it an easy and attractive market for foreign companies, but on issues that affect public health - such as nutrient profiles, health claims, GM food and salt reduction - the country is forging its own path. FoodNavigator...
If all over 55s in Europe took 1 g of omega-3 EPA-DHA every day the EU could collectively save about €12.9bn in cardiovascular disease health care spending every year, a report commissioned by Food Supplements Europe (FSE) has found.
To date 75 countries globally have implemented mandatory fortification programmes for folic acid with the aim of preventing neural tube defects (NTDs) in babies. Yet despite growing calls from NGOs, health experts and researchers, the 28 EU member countries...
Members of European Parliament (MEPs) voted today to scrap nutrient profiles, a result that leaves consumer rights groups, public health campaigners and some industry players sorely disappointed.
A transparency watchdog has called for legally-binding measures to tackle lobbying in the EU, following the release of its report that claimed permanent representations for member states were being left wide open to corporate pressure.
Manufacturers of food supplements containing botanical extracts may be caught unawares by a new EU regulation on PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) which entered into force last month, warns Frutarom.
Norwegian authorities have published risk assessments for 12 so-called unregulated ‘other substances’ in food supplements and energy drinks, including caffeine, taurine and omega-3 forms EPA, DHA and EPA.
An EFSA-approved health claim relating to infant immune system function will spread consumer confidence, a nutritionist says, although a pro-breast milk feeding group warns the claim could be abused.
The European Commission has launched a ‘fitness check/roadmap’ with a special focus on the EU’s botanical health claims imbroglio and the nutrient profile of foods able to bear health claims. Both issues remain unresolved under EU health claim laws introduced...
‘Openness’ and ‘better dialogue’ between industry, scientists and regulators were themes of the day as the newly minted European chapter of the International Probiotics Association (IPA-Europe) launched itself with a mini-congress in Brussels yesterday.
Europe has various measures in place to report risky supplements – but it’s questionable if these warnings ever make it outside the closed circuit of national authorities. This lack of complete information is to the detriment of both consumer safety and...
August was a month of excess – with supplements blocked for vitamin content well over the safe limits set in the EU. Find out by how much in this month’s round up of supplements blocked at the EU borders.
Austria could be taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over its ban on doorstep sales of products like food supplements, the European Commission says.
Salmonella in your infant nutrition, hormones in your supplements and lead in your detox. These were just some of the nasties included in this month’s round up of supplements blocked at the EU borders.
The German nutrition company Dextro Energy is to take the European Commission to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg over five banned glucose health claims.
"The EU is the only region in the world where the use of the term ‘probiotic’ is banned.”
The secretary general of a leading probiotic association has launched a stinging attack on the European Union health claims regime she said is discriminatory, confusing and shameful.
The term ‘probiotic’ could make a re-appearance on pots of yogurt on sale in UK supermarkets, if Italy is successful in getting approval for its use as a ‘generic descriptor’.
To a backdrop of the Asean regulatory harmonisation process, a number of European Union officials have descended on Kuala Lumpur to attend a forum designed to apply the older bloc’s knowledge on the subject.
Androgenic anabolic steroids, vinpocetine and sidenafil were among the illegal substances uncovered in supplements being imported into the EU or already on the European market, according to data from the RASFF (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed).
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![SNE: 'Under no circumstances can [infant formula] be compared to tobacco products...infant formula is one of the most highly regulated products in the world...' © iStock](/var/wrbm_gb_food_pharma/storage/images/_aliases/news_teaser_medium/9/1/8/2/2852819-1-eng-GB/European-infant-formula-makers-We-don-t-need-more-regulation.jpg)
!['In case Austria does not respond within the deadline or provides an unsatisfactory response, the Commission might decide to refer Austria to the [ECJ],' says Commission](/var/wrbm_gb_food_pharma/storage/images/_aliases/news_teaser_medium/1/3/5/5/3175531-1-eng-GB/Austria-could-face-EU-court-action-for-direct-selling-ban.jpg)
