Danone Baby Nutrition says the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) failed to engage in “direct scientific dialogue” in the lead-up to the agency’s scientists handing it a negative opinion for a prebiotic-infant immunity health claim in December.
Regulatory uncertainty is now proving a bigger barrier to innovation in healthy foods than the weak economy, according to leading ingredients suppliers.
German health authorities have issued a 14-page statement warning against over-consumption of energy shots – one of the fastest growing segments of the international beverages market.
The UK Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) has revised its guidelines to bring them in line with the 2006 European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR).
GlaxoSmithKline-owned German firm, Abtei Pharma Vertriebs, wants the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to reconsider its summer 2009 opinion that dose levels could not be established for a calcium/vitamin D bone health claim.
German supplier Rudolf Wild GmbH claims the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) failed to explain the reasons for rejecting its immunity health claim opinion, and has appealed to the assessor to revisit its submitted science.
The European Food Safety Authority should reconsider its methodology about relevant target populations, a German firm has stated in response to EFSA’s rejection of a health claim linking glucosamine and reduced risk of developing osteoarthritis.
Swedish probiotics player, Probi, is pursuing “unofficial” dialogue with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) after the scientific agency closed the formal process by rejecting its probiotic health claim appeal.
In a world with a chronic ‘globesity’ problem spreading beyond western shores to places like India and China, products that promise to help individuals manage their weight via calorie control, fat burning, satiety, or some other mechanism, enjoy rampant...
How usable are the health claims that have already been approved? First, companies need to see if there is any wiggle room around EFSA’s scientific language. Then, the thorny nutrient profiling is unclear. According to a food lawyer, if agreement can’t...
A health claim, under Article 13.5, for a French fish oil-based dietary supplement Catalgine that it can help to reduce the frequency of hot flushes in middle aged women has been rejected by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The European Food safety Authority (EFSA) rejected a submission from a Dutch plant sterol supplements firm calling for the EU approved, cholesterol-lowering health claim to be expanded to food supplements and other food categories.
Whether beauty foods and supplements fall under the EU health claims regulation is still a significant grey area, according to a new FSA consultation document.
Belgian ingredients giant, the Beneo Group, says new European Union health rules favour ‘active’ health claims such as phytosterols, while discounting ‘passive’ claims such as those that replace ingredients with healthier versions to make products healthier.
A dossier containing 13 randomised controlled trials, 6 observational studies, and 15 non-human studies has failed to impress European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientists because the four strains in question were not sufficiently characterised.
Pan-European better nutrition advocate, the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), has merged with the American Association for Health Freedom (AAHF) to form the Alliance for Natural Health International.
DHA-related brain and eye health claims for infants have been backed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), after it issued advice this month at the request of the European Commission.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
Concerns abound that the approach of the European Food Safety Authority towards health claims may stifle innovation and science, none more so than for prebiotics, says a leading researcher.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
Europe's leading trade groups are set for a meeting with the European Commission to discuss their concerns over the health claims assessment, and EFSA's reluctance to engage in dialogue.
More than six months after receiving a positive health claim opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) linking its tomato extract to blood circulation benefits, UK biotech firm Provexis has been handed final claim wording by the European...
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
European Union health claims handed negative opinions by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) may be able to resubmit data under an article of the nutrition and health claims regulation, according to a European Commission official.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
Making claims based on non-conclusive but still substantial science is a "possible avenue" since denying a 'maybe' claim may challenge free speech rights, says a UK lawyer.
UK TV ads promoting a heart health measurement service on the website for Unilever’s plant sterol, cholesterol-lowering pro.activ range, have been backed by Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
US attorney Jonathan Emord draws parallels between his experiences in the US challenging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the current health claims situation in Europe on the basis of free speech.
The affirmation that the omega-3 DHA can benefit cognitive and eye health offers hope to previously rejected claims. And it's business as usual regarding the overall health claims process, despite ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, said a European...
With ‘healthy’ populations identified as the ideal for the European Food Safety Authority’s health claims, NutraIngredients asks Yakult – what exactly is healthy?
Danone is calling for a clear health claims regulatory timetable to be implemented over the next few weeks because the current lack of clarity is “restricting the competitiveness of businesses”, reports our sister publication Food Manufacture.
Producing randomized clinical trials is never an inexpensive endeavour, but increasingly stringent criteria mean companies are facing tough choices on whether to pursuer innovation, says DSM Nutritional Products.
Leatherhead Food Research chief executive, Dr Paul Berryman, tells Shane Starling that despite a swathe of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim rejections, the positive opinions that have come in offer much hope to industry.
For a fruit that has had more science conducted on it than most, it is surprising to some that France remains the only country to have approved a long-standing cranberry health claim.
The Irish Health Trade Association (IHTA) claims the scientific approach taken by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in its assessment of health claims for nutrients is seriously flawed.
As the European Union health claims climate evolves, companies are learning just what is required to demonstrate the benefits of healthy foods and supplements.
UK-based omega-3 supplements brand, Equazen, says it will amend its marketing materials after negative health claim opinions regarding its products were written into the European Union legislature in October.
As a raft of non-positive opinions on probiotics floats down the health claims river, questions have been asked of the efficacy of the beneficial bacteria. Two experts discuss where we stand and how to get the good ship Probiotic back on course.
The Sudzucker-owned Beneo Group established the Beneo Institute in late 2009 to give “new oxygen to a squeezed industry”, as Executive Board member, Yves Servotte, puts it, to a functional foods industry facing unprecedented regulatory and scientific...
Iodine and iron have both been shown to benefit children’s development by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientists under article 14 of the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation.
Provexis chief executive officer, Stephen Moon tells Shane Starling why becoming the first company to achieve an article 13.5 proprietary health claim has been such a boon to his company.
Ka-CHING! Hear that? No it’s not the sound of overflowing cash registers as consumers throw endless wads of euros at scientifically-backed, healthy foods in greater numbers than ever before.
Three of Europe’s largest food supplement and healthy product trade groups have issued a 17-page paper that lays out its many concerns with the scientific approach being taken by EFSA in regard to health claims.
NutraIngredients asked its readers for their views on whether the EU health claims regulation is stifling innovation in Europe. And we received a lot of responses...
The European Union health claims regulation is a good idea being badly implemented according the Peter van Doorn, the chairman of leading trade group, EHPM. The economic fall-out may lead to the regulation being dragged before the courts, he argues, in...
There’s gold to be found in them health claims mountains, but prospectors from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) must be happy with the little chunks that add up to a lot, and stop searching for nuggets the size of your fist.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has confirmed that the omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and ALA, can benefit eye and cognitive development in babies.
Pooling nutrient information is becoming an important and time efficient way for companies seeking scientific data about nutrients – especially those seeking to back health claims under the European Union’s tough claims system.
A new partnership with chemical group Solvay will enable the distribution of a low dosage prebiotic food ingredient with multiple food and drink applications within Europe, the Middle East and Africa, claims Tate & Lyle.
In the final part of our series on healthy chocolate, NutraIngredients scans the regulatory landscape to see how the movement towards healthy cocoa offerings is being affected by the rules in some of the lands they are proliferating in.
Two of the three article 14 cholesterol-lowering health claim opinions relating to plant sterols and stanols have been written into the European Union legislature – along with 19 other claims.
