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.
Genetic typing, internationally recognised naming protocols and evidence of consistency in the final product have been highlighted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as critical factors for probiotic health claim submissions.
Chr. Hansen is remarketing its probiotics to underline their scientific backing as the industry reels from EFSA’s mass rejection of probiotic dossiers.
Pan-European better nutrition advocate, the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), says the European Union health claims system is going way beyond its remit to protect consumer interests and curtailing freedom of speech.
An international consortium of concerned lipid scientists says the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)-recommended omega-3 dietary reference values (DRVs) are seriously flawed and should be amended before they see the light of day in the European Union...
The European Commission has set itself the goal of processing the 94 generic article 13.1 health claim opinions issued by EFSA recently by the end of January, meaning claim rulings could be enforceable at retail level by July, 2010.
The voluntary UK advertising watchdog has told Danone to cease broadcasting TV adverts that stated its one-shot probiotic drinking yoghurt, Actimel, could boost the immune system of children.
Global energy drinks leader, Red Bull, says the recent rejection of taurine-based energy health claims by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) won’t have any bearing on its own claim-making.
The green-lipped mussel extract market will benefit from the negative joint health claim opinion delivered by the European Food safety Authority (EFSA) last week because it has highlighted one-size-fits-all problems in the market, according to a leading...
Three University of Reading scientists wrote to the European Commission in July expressing concern about EFSA’s approach to evaluating probiotic article 13.1 dossiers.
The group of international scientists that last week petitioned the European Commission to amend a mooted omega-3 labelling regulation they believe would confuse consumers, have vowed to continue their fight in the European Parliament, after the EC backed...
The European Food Safety Authority’s mass rejection of probiotic dossiers is not the disaster it appears if ‘technical’ obstacles can be overcome, according to a group that represents the biggest yoghurt players in the world.
Last week’s European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim opinions have received a lot of mainstream media attention in the UK national consumer press, with the probiotic claim rejections gaining the most attention.
October 1 was not a good day for many in the functional foods and food supplements business in the European Union as the meaning of life under a highly restrictive health claims regime came more into focus.
Botanicals, probiotics and weight management claims were the big losers in yesterday’s first batch of article 13.1 claims, with not a positive opinion among them.
At first glance yesterday’s publication of the first batch of 94 article 13.1 health claim opinions, is a worst-case scenario for industry, with claims for the likes of omega-3s, beta-glucan, folate, probiotics and taurine all drawing negative opinions...
Around one third of the first batch of article 13.1 health claim applications have drawn positive opinions from EFSA. Professor Albert Flynn, the head of EFSA’s health claims assessment panel, tells NutraIngredients.com why some claims were favoured over...
Twenty one of the world’s leading omega-3 scientists have petitioned the European Commission in a last-ditch effort to convince EU rule makers its omega-3 nutrition labelling plans are flawed and should be significantly revised.
Danone’s newly submitted article 14 probiotic, diarrhoea health claim, is a product of the ongoing learning process that is occurring as companies come to grips with the reality of the European Union’s new health claim regime, according to the French...
UK-based third party testing service, HFL Sports Science, has developed a series of ultra-sensitive lab assays that will allow supplements and functional food manufacturers to more accurately measure molecular profiles and their potential health effects.
The importance of the Codex Alimentaria in developing regulatory harmony in a region like Asia where rules differ so greatly, has been emphasised at a recent event hosted by the Asian arm of Belgian consultancy, EAS.
Danone will resubmit withdrawn article 13.5 European Union probiotic health claims by year’s end with additional trials added to the dossiers to strengthen their claims, according to a health claims expert working with the company.
The US FDA is being sued over its health claims regime – actions that are unlikely to succeed according to most pundits – but they raise serious questions about healthy food messaging and free speech that are being felt globally.
