The European Food Safety Authority failed to take adequate measures to prevent conflict of interests arising from a major 'revolving doors' case in 2008, according to a final EU Ombudsman ruling on the case.
A group of European health organisations has urged European Commission president José Manuel Barroso to issue a proposal on nutrient profiling as part of a wider EU goal to reduce premature deaths.
Now that the dust has settled on the health claims submission process we should all be very clear on the rules of engagement. Well kind of, says Nigel Baldwin, chief consultant in Intertek’s European office.
Charging the private sector for European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) work will not generate enough cash and compromise the agency’s independence, a European Commission working group has found.
An article in ‘Nature’ magazine welcoming tough EU health claim laws has highlighted the conundrum facing EU regulators if the Union is to adopt different claim-substantiation criteria for about 2000 ‘on-hold’ botanical claims.
A European Commission working group has found growing support to authorise five mental and physical caffeine-based health claims – as long as they contain strict conditions of use statements.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has offered a positive safety opinion for the use of synthetic zeaxanthin in food supplements at levels of up to 0.75mg per kilogram per day.
The European Food Safety Authority produced 658 scientific opinions, reports, guidance documents and statements ranging from health claim opinions to animal safety assessments to sweeteners and bisphenol A missives.
Australian authorities have warned consumers about possible negative health effects of using sports supplements containing DMAA, as the global crackdown on the controversial stimulant continues.
The soy industry has written to the European Commission highlighting what it sees as serious failings in EFSA’s assessment of its rejected soy protein-cholesterol claim.
Manufacturers are still not sure how much flexibility they have in wording health claims because guidance from the European Commission (EC) is not yet available.
Dispatches from the 6th Nutrition & Lifestyle conference in Brussels
A 6-year project tackling obesity and other diet and physical activity-related health issues across the European Union has spawned 300 individual positive actions by government, commercial and other actors – and is not set to wind up until next year.
Irish MEP Marian Harkin has become one of the most vocal European parliamentary opponents of the interpretation and application of the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR), and she was not appeased by EC and EFSA statements at a specially...
The UK food supplements and healthy foods industry is backing a motion among some European Parliamentarians to veto the article 13 health claims register containing 2000 rejections that could be law in three months.
The recent veto of 'percentage less' claims by MEPs is indicative of a lack of trust in the food industry, said the UK trade group, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which is intent on continuing to push for such amendments to the health...
Today the European Commission meets to decide whether or not to send the controversial European Union health claims register to the European Parliament – now is no time to abort the process says European ingredients giant, Beneo.
EU food industry representatives claim the delay in new novel food regulation proposals from the European Commission is seriously hampering innovation in the EU food and beverage manufacturing sector.
The European Commission said its newly unveiled common nanomaterial definition will provide a basis for clear regulation that will boost industry’s ability to develop products while safeguarding consumers.
The European Commission (EC) has surrendered consumer production to business gain in discussions ahead of a key meeting today on revising the EC directive on baby milks and foods.
The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) says the European Commission (EC) has failed to engage its concerns about the disproportionate effects of EU herbal medicine laws in a letter issued this week.
The Alliance for Natural Health International has slammed the European Commission’s Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive as “a protectionist tool.”
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 Commission today approved DuPont’s €4.5bn offer for Danish probiotics, enzymes and ingredients giant Danisco but the deal remains in doubt as to date only 6% of Danisco shareholders have accepted the offer.
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.
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 CIAA is confident that the incoming Hungarian presidency of the EU will finalise the long-awaited amended novel foods regulation in the next six months, but points out a number of outstanding issues.
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 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.
Irish Member of the European Parliament Jim Higgins has tabled questions about the European Commission’s activities regarding vitamin D consumption and deficiency across the bloc, according to PA International.
The three groups behind the soy protein-cholesterol lowering health claim rejected by the European Food Safety Authority in late July, say EFSA’s tight definition of soy protein denies real world use of the nutrient.
Food supplements trade group EHPM has presented the European Ombudsman with a complaint that the publication of health claim opinions in batches is unfair and adds up to “maladministration”.
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) approach to assessing health claims is resulting in the ‘medicalisation’ of food and is blocking scientifically-backed health communication, according to food and supplement industry associations.
With little change in sight in the European Union’s new stringent health claims system, industry is being urged to get creative to promote healthy foods and supplements, at a packed Vitafoods discussion this morning.
The EU Parliament Petitions Committee have voted to keep open five petitions that question the European Commission’s proposal to limit maximum levels of vitamins and minerals in the EU bloc under the Food Supplements Directive.
Spirulina, the blue colour from algae used in Nestlé’s Smarties, is one of 10 substances used to colour food that faces an uncertain future as its legal status is scrutinised.
Basil Mathioudakis, the Head of the European Commission unit on Food Law, Nutrition and Labelling tells Shane Starling how it came to be that a whole batch of European Union health claims somehow got lost in the system.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) executive director, Catherine Geslain- Lanéelle, has told the Nutrition and Lifestyle conference in Brussels this morning that many of Thursday’s article 13.1 opinions have "insufficient evidence".
Regulatory uncertainty is now proving a bigger barrier to innovation in healthy foods than the weak economy, according to leading ingredients suppliers.
A negative opinion from EFSA on a health claim is not necessarily the end of the line for marketing the products benefits, and avenues to market the product are still available, says a UK-based lawyer.
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.
Health claims backed by studies carried out on non-healthy populations are capable of winning positive opinions according to an EFSA assessment of its own methods sent to the European Commission and member states and published this week.
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...
UK start-up Provexis is confident the European Commission, in consultation with member states, will issue consumer-friendly wording for its tomato extract blood circulation health claim.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has completed the assessment of more than 500 vitamin and mineral dossiers it began scrutinising in 2005, with few surprises, and little reformulation required of industry as a result.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) should shelve plans to publish its first batch of 1024 article 13.1 health claims by the end of July until a dialogue can be opened with an increasingly apprehensive industry to clarify key aspects of the scientific...
DG Sanco, the European Commission’s health and consumer protection arm, has published comments made to it by concerned parties about varying health claim opinions as they have come in from the European Food safety Authority (EFSA).
Basil Mathioudakis, the European Commission’s head of Food Law, Nutrition and Labelling, will take part in a discussion on labelling, health claims and more at Vitafoods in Geneva next month.
