Non-governmental organisation ANH-International is set to file its legal challenge to the controversial Traditional Herbal Medicines Product Directive (THMPD) at the High Court in London by the end of March, NutraIngredients.com has learnt.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has rejected an article 13.5 claim that sought to link a probiotic cheese called Harmony with heart health benefits.
A Lisbon Treaty-led broadening of the rights of individuals and corporations to act against European Union law could permit generic, article 13 health claim challenges, even though they, “are not addressed to individuals”, according to an EU food law...
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has approved a health claim linking thiamin (vitamin B1) and “normal neurological development and function” in infants and children up to three years of age.
The pre- and probiotics community is seeking direct dialogue with the European Commission to force a rethink of immunity and gut health claims under the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR).
Swedish probiotics supplier and product manufacturer BioGaia has seen sales increase 16 per cent in 2010 to €27.77m from €23.08m in 2009, with after-tax profit increasing 31 per cent year-on-year to €5.35m.
European probiotic researchers are welcoming last week’s commitment to probiotic study by a major US government health and nutrition agency, with biomarker development a real possibility.
The European Food Safety Authority’s health claims panel will complete its exhaustive article 13.1 generic health claims task by publishing three batches this year, with the first due at the beginning of April.
An uncertain climate regarding health claims could lead to EU consumers losing trust in health claims altogether and shifting back to unhealthy diets, warns Euromonitor
Herbal supplement producer Biotivia has launched a resveratrol supplement onto the UK high street for the first time, but has expressed frustration at the EU regulatory climate.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are questioning whether omega-3 form DHA can benefit infant eye sight, despite the nutrient winning endorsement from one of the world’s toughest claims assessment agencies – the European Food Safety Authority...
The UK branch of German pharma player Boehringer Ingelheim has had brain health adverts for a vitamin-based medicine backed by local watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
In the second part of this special series on global outsourcing trends NutraIngredients explores how the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) is impacting activity in the contract research organisation (CRO) sector.
The European Commission is still unable to say when the controversial nutrient profiling model in the EU health claims Regulation will be finalised, two years after food manufacturers were told it would be published.
UK firm Healthspan has been told to amend marketing materials for herbal-based blends after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found advertorial materials in breach of its fair marketing code for making medicinal and unauthorised claims.
Supplements containing a mix of probiotic bacteria and prebiotic fibers reduced the prevalence of asthma-like symptoms in children at risk of the condition, says a new study from the Netherlands.
The author of a high-profile study suggesting that a daily Yakult dose could reduce the incidence and severity of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) has hit back at criticism of his paper by EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority).
Leading European prebiotic and probiotic researchers have begun a campaign to change the EU’s health claims system that has so far unanimously rejected its science.
An article 14 children’s development health claim submitted to the European Union by drug giant Merck linking omega-3 form DHA with infant visual development has been approved at committee level by the European Commission.
2010 has been another tough year for the European functional food and supplements industries as health claim rejections have continued to flood in, leaving some in a state of high anxiety, fear and dread. Others are just mildly annoyed at a situation...
The European Food Safety Authority health claims panel has defended its controversial rejection of a soy protein-cholesterol lowering submission in July this year by highlighting the fact the industry agreed to its tight definition of soy protein.
High-profile omega-3 product withdrawals or underperforming products do not signal a crisis in the category, rather an acknowledgement of its nascent status, industry figures have said.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is celebrating a positive opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for a health claim related to its ‘toothkind’ drinks that moves into comparative territory.
It’s been a bad year for good bacteria: A raft of negative health claims opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has left many in the industry predicting trouble ahead for probiotics and prebiotics in Europe. But Professor Tine Rask Licht,...
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed at its Board Management meeting last week that the resources do not exist to accommodate meetings between its health claims panel and parties before claim submissions are formally made.
Four groups with an interest in pre- and probiotics will today send a letter to the European Commission and European Food Safety Authority spelling out their ongoing concerns with the European Union health claims system that, to date, has unanimously...
The high rate of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) immune health health claim rejections is likely to continue unless parameters of a well-functioning immune system can be defined, according to a Brussels-based industry group.
Differentiating between disease risk factors and disease reduction in the way that the 2006 nutrition and health claim regulation does is too arbitrary and needs revision, according to a German nutrition professor. But if such a change is needed, who...
DSM Nutritional Products has submitted an article 14 disease risk reduction health claim linking consumption of a proprietary blend of vitamin D2 and D3 and reduced risk of falling over among the elderly.
The rejection of so many health claim submissions by the European Food Safety Authority is creating a major headache for the EU functional foods and food supplements industries, with many looking at resubmissions under article 13.5 of the regulation.
The European Commission decision to remove around 2000 submissions for botanical extracts from the 2006 nutrition and health claims process will allow substances to remain on-market, and may provide a loophole to help companies thinking about herbal medicinal...
Japanese probiotics giant Yakult says its recent EFSA probiotic health claim rejection discounted peer-review validated respiratory tract health measures, and called on the European Commission to facilitate a discussion on the matter.
Restoring a suppressed immune system to full-function could win a health claim, EFSA health claim panelist, Henk van Loveren said at last week’s gut/immune health meeting in Amsterdam.
Danone will contest the diarrhoea health claim rejection for its Actimel drinking yoghurt handed to it by the European Food Safety Authority this week.
The tough health claims environment in Europe could turn manufacturers towards more subtle – and maybe less ethical – marketing approaches, believes Henry Dixon of PR firm BDB.
Advertising for NeoCell’s collagen and vitamin C beauty supplement has been deemed misleading by the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) as it says the company cannot substantiate its claims.
Should the FDA work to be more like EFSA? Speaking at the NutraIngredients Health Claims 2010 conference Andrew Shao said the two organisations are already very similar in the way they review scientific claims.
The CIAA says EFSA’s immunity/gut health workshop has revealed the lack of clarity that remains in the European Union health claims process and called for pre-submission meetings between applicants and EFSA’s health claims panel.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has repeatedly emphasised that the 2006 EU nutrition and health claims regulation is a learning experience for everyone involved – from its health claims assessment panel to industry stakeholders, to the member...
Key members of the European pre- and probiotic industries left Amsterdam frustrated that the majority of their questions about immune and gut health claims remained unanswered after a meeting with the European Food Safety Authority’s health claims panel...
“It’s a critical issue to figure out how to show the health benefits with foods without crossing the borderline into medicines,” European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) NDA health claims panel working group member, Maria Saarela, told NutraIngredients at...
The depressingly high rejection rate for ‘article 13.1’ health claims is hardly surprising given the nature of the submission process, according to one member of the expert panel tasked with assessing them.
Last month the European Food safety Authority (EFSA) rejected a range of whey-based, article 13.1 health claims, with only a muscle mass claim gaining approval. Problem? Not according to the whey industry.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will tackle potential online breaches of its new digital marketing code one case at a time, but industry has called for further guidance at a London workshop yesterday.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has stood by its article 13.5 rejection of a beta-glucan immuntiy health claim after responding to questions from the submitter - German company Leiber.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued its first positive health claim opinion for a prebiotic with a laxative effect – but it was not achieved via a typical prebiotic effect, according to a leading academic in the area.
