Probiotic academics and industry members say there is little new in the gut and immune health claim guidance final draft published this week by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Danish giant Danisco hopes to have products on shelves “within 12 months” for a new pine-sourced free and esterified phytosterol offering targeting heart health it has branded PinVita.
French supplier Roquette says recent positive health claim opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) linking sugar replacers with dental health, are applicable to soluble fibres.
Claims that a functional food may boost satiety are ‘weak and misleading for consumers’, and products with satiety claims should carry a label mentioning the ‘limited value’ of such claims, Dutch researchers report.
The Czech Special Foods Association (CSFA) says the European Food Safety Authority (RFSA) rejection last week of a product-specific, lactoferrin-immunity health claim shows even ‘gold-standard’ science is not impressing the Parma-based agency.
Eight of the top 12 soy drink consuming countries are Asian with Hong Kong residents consuming the most at 17 litres per year each, according to TetraPak data.
Swiss giant Lonza has plunged into the probiotics sector for the first time by licensing a gut ulcer battling Lactobacillus strain plucked from the 8000-strain strong vats of German contract research organisation, Organobalance.
A leading probiotics researcher says the ongoing uncertainty about endpoints and biomarkers in European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim evaluations, means the best chance for probiotic products to make claims is to combine them with nutrients...
The positive EFSA opinions for gum claims under Article 13.1 will compel the sector to further innovate along functional lines, says an expert who argues that gum is the confectionery category 'most likely' to get such regulatory backing.
The European Food Safety Authority’s backing for a functional health claim for resistant starch should be good news for bread, biscuit and cereal manufacturers wanting to tap into the functional foods market.
British Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Glenis Willmott, is writing to the European Commission to block a DHA eye development claim being used on infant follow-on formula products, after the EP last week failed to veto the claim.
The European Federation of Bottled Water (EFBW) is celebrating two positive opinions from three claims that the trade association sent to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
In this guest article, Louise Dye, Professor of Nutrition and Behaviour in the Human Appetite Research Unit at the Institute of Psychological Sciences at the University of Leeds, outlines why the nutrient-mental performance link is a difficult one to...
Intense and bulk sweetener suppliers are basking in the glow of positive sugar replacement health claim opinions issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) last week.
Friday’s fourth batch of article 13 general function health claims highlighted inconsistencies in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approach, according to Joerg Gruenwald, PhD, the president of German health claims consultancy and CRO, Analyze...
The ongoing high rejection rate of health claim submissions under European Union regulations has prompted EU trade groups to reiterate their stance that the claims assessment process needs a severe and serious rethink.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on Friday continued its high rejection rate as it produced the fourth batch of article 13 general function health claims under the 2006 nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR).
The European Food Safety Authority’s health claims panel this morning issued 442 fresh article 13 general function health claim opinions, causing a run on its site that crashed it for many minutes.
Claims consultant and European food regulation specialist, Patrick Coppens, from the Brussels-based consultancy European Advisory Services, says new data could win lutein players a positive health claim opinion.
UK food supplements manufacturer Vitabiotics says the UK advertising watchdog rejected as evidence a positive EFSA health claim opinion for vitamin B12 and brain function it submitted to back claims it was making for some of its products.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have today narrowly rejected a motion to prohibit a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Commission (EC)-approved DHA omega-3 eye health claim on breast milk substitute products.
Chr Hansen is anticipating a negative opinion on its 13.1 health claim submission for its BB12 probiotic this week, due to lack guidance from EFSA when it was made, and plans to re-submit under 13.5.
Researchers in South Africa remain confident that P57 – the active component in Hoodia gordonii at the centre of an ill-fated partnership between Unilever and UK life sciences firm Phytopharm – can be successfully commercialized
Scandinavian ingredients giant Danisco has signed a “long term” deal to market globally the free and esterified phytosterol offerings of US firm Arboris.
Just as with the 2006 nutrition and health claim regulation (NHCR) itself, next week's European Parliament (EP) vote on whether to allow products aimed at 6-12 month old infants to bear omega-3 DHA-related eye development claims promises to be highly...
Lobbying is ratcheting up ahead of next week's European Parliament (EP) vote on whether to permit a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Commission (EC)-approved claim linking omega-3 form DHA and infant eye health.
The late move by a European Parliament committee to block the addition of DHA omega-3 claims to baby milk products across the EU bloc, would be a triumph of politics over science, a medical practitioner in the area has written.
When it comes to deciding whether to purchase functional foods, ‘the principal considerations still do not pertain to health, but rather taste and price’ according to a new consumer study.
Dietary supplement manufacturers operating in China will have to do more to guarantee the quality of their supply chains, after Chinese authorities imposed new quality control regulations last week.
A campaign by the Danish Food Administration is seeking to curb misleading marketing of dietary supplements in retail stores, with random inspections and fines for the worst offenders.
Food companies may have greater freedom in communicating the healthful benefits of foods and supplements to health care professionals (HCPs) than exist under the nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR), according to a legal journal.
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim panellist, professor Seppo Salminen, has co-edited a book investigating probiotic science and health claims, with a focus on regional differences.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) does not have the scientific know-how to deliver health claim marketing verdicts in the botanicals area, according to a natural health lobby group.
The omega-3 industry must devote more resources to lobbying and educating government, health care professionals and the general public to help plug a ‘policy gap’ that is contributing to a growing epidemic of cognitive disorders, a congress has been told.
Consumers with a positive view of functional foods are likely to have an exaggerated understanding of the health claims such products carry, according to new research.
A 25-year probiotic research veteran says the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) rejection of a diarrhoea C. difficile-reducing health claim for Danone drinking yoghurt Actimel was flawed because it failed to consider the totality of the evidence in...
Global probiotics leader Danone has written a 14-page response to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in which it accuses the Parma-based agency of ignoring positive trial data and demands to see “minority opinions” among health claim panel decisions.
A recently established group of global gut health academics is sending letters to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) as well as national government politicians as the group attempts to alter the application of a regulation it says is, “killing...
The German lawyer and professor of nutrition who three years ago submitted a European Union health claim linking drinking water and dehydration say it is “more than likely that we will sue” after EFSA rejected their claim last week.
The Global Organization for EPA and DHA (GOED) has announced its second board expansion within a year with EPAX’s Baldur Hjaltason (pictured) moving from vice-chair to chair to replace Croda’s David Shannon, while DSM Nutritional Products’ Amanda Ruess...
UK supplements manufacturer Passion for Life Healthcare has amended marketing materials for a menopausal fermented soy-flax supplement called Femarelle after the Advertising Standards Authority there upheld a complaint against them.
The European Food Safety Authority health claims panel has turned in two negative opinions for separate claims that sought to link calcium-fortified fruit juice and tooth demineralisation; and water consumption and dehydration.
A recently completed documentary about probiotics is being welcomed by the probiotics community with Danisco, the world’s biggest probiotics supplier saying it provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the microorganisms among the medical fraternity.
An approved EFSA claims that omega-3 form DHA contributes to the visual development of infants risks misleading consumers, due to a committee oversight in approving the relevant health claim, says UK-based breast-feeding advocacy group Baby Milk Action.
In part four of this NutraIngredients heart health special we look at how regulators view those foods, drinks and supplements making cardiovascular claims
Stakeholder input can alter European Food Safety Authority health claim opinions, says German consultancy and contract research organization, Analyze&Realize, even if the examples are few.
