Two shipments of aegeline were blocked last month at the EU borders – begging the questions, is this illicit substance still at large and if so what should be done to stop it?
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the bloc not a firm was stirring, not even the Brussels flock. Nutrition industry stakeholders have hung up their stockings by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there… but...
NutraInterview: Dominique Speleers, Beneo executive board member
Dominique Speleers is a long-time Beneo man who has seen a lot in his 15 years with the European ingredients giant from back when it was Belgian inulin and chicory player Beneo-Orafti and now as a board member of the more European, more international,...
Chr Hansen has secured a €75m loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support its microbial solutions work as the bioscience company ramps up its R&D spend.
The Italian advertising standards body has ruled that the marketing of a cystitis-fighting cranberry product is misleading – proof of the country’s increasing disregard for the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR), says one expert.
Poland occupies 46% of central Europe’s supplements markets that will grow collectively at 7.6% annually until 2020 with improved economic indicators, analyst PMR has said.
Norwegian authorities have published risk assessments for 12 so-called unregulated ‘other substances’ in food supplements and energy drinks, including caffeine, taurine and omega-3 forms EPA, DHA and EPA.
Biocare Copenhagen, a Danish probiotics company, will enter the Korean market through a partnership with local health food manufacturer and distributor Health Balance.
Producers of food-grade insects will submit a novel food application as soon as the new regulation passes into force, the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) has pledged.
Naturex CEO: “There is already quite an interesting list of first contacts.”
Swiss Chocolate titan Barry Callebaut has handed the job of taking EU heart health claim winning cocoa flavanols to the supplements sector to French herbals leader Naturex.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has handed over details of which working group members made what changes to a draft document on pesticides following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling – but it will be keeping EFSA staff details to itself.
Spanish botanical firm Monteloeder has promised to invest €600,000 in helping its clients launch products containing its MetabolAid if it wins a €2m EU innovation grant.
New rules on novel food were finally voted in yesterday in a European Parliament plenary, while some confusion remains about the adoption of certain amendments.
Italian courts have defended a botanical company’s right to make AIDS and Alzheimer’s disease claims – overturning a previous ruling from its national competition authority and potentially voiding the EU health claims regulation.
A new-look International Probiotics Association is creating dialogue with key regulators around the world, and the regulators are starting to turn the corner on how they regulate the friendly bugs, says the association’s executive director.
A 100-strong meeting today in Brussels revealed a self-care industry that is prepared for, yet frustrated by, impending changes to EU medical devices laws that are set to increase data requirements and product development costs and which it claims will...
Czech-based Eastern European supplements giant Walmark has completed its second regional acquisition of the year with the purchase of fellow Czech supplements firm Valosun for an undisclosed sum.
The European Commission has launched a ‘fitness check/roadmap’ with a special focus on the EU’s botanical health claims imbroglio and the nutrient profile of foods able to bear health claims. Both issues remain unresolved under EU health claim laws introduced...
EFSA delivers long-awaited safety assessment despite data craters
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said insect pathogens potentially harmful to humans are most likely to come from rearing and processing not intrinsically associated with the insect itself – but huge gaps in data remain.
Sixteen countries have requested to opt out of GM cultivation in Europe – but while the Commission says the opt-out clause is necessary for such a complex issue, campaigners are calling it ‘Kafkaesque’ and one scientist warns Europe is walking 'an...
‘Openness’ and ‘better dialogue’ between industry, scientists and regulators were themes of the day as the newly minted European chapter of the International Probiotics Association (IPA-Europe) launched itself with a mini-congress in Brussels yesterday.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a key opinion on sports foods, which some say backs the idea that sports food should be considered ‘normal’ not specialist.
By Shane Starling at the European Parliament in Brussels
Unless there is a shock shift, a full sitting of the 751-seat European Parliament (EP) will soon pass significant reforms to the EU’s now ‘not fit for purpose’ novel foods regulation – but widespread concerns remain.
Mooted changes to EU novel food laws that will cater for new ingredient sources like insects and food making methods like nanotechnology are ‘vague, unclear and unworkable’ according to a leading nanotechnology group.
Europe’s biggest specialised food group used a meeting in Brussels this week to reiterate its call for “clear, evidence-based, and balanced legislation” as the 2016 kick-in date nears for EU laws governing foods like toddler milks, diet replacements and...
European food supplement groups share insights from the law to distribution to marketing and science in this Q&A on the €7bn European supplements sector, according to Euromonitor International.
Europe’s peak sports nutrition trade group has affirmed broad support for better and more relevant sports food, drink and supplement regulation across Europe, but emphasised not all parties agree on how to get there.
European food bodies have reiterated calls to better regulate the sports food, drink and supplement category to ease uncertainty and inconsistency across the EU’s 28 member states – and boost innovation.
A German court has dismissed campaign group FoodWatch’s law suit against Unilever’s cholesterol-lowering spread pro.activ – but FoodWatch continues its assault by urging the European Commission to retract its novel food approval.
After a few years of rapid growth the part owners of nascent Danish probiotics specialist Biocare Copenhagen have bought out the private and public investors that birthed it in 2012 for an undisclosed sum.
Fennel may be the sixth most consumed botanical in some European countries, but little is known about its safety or rate of consumption, say PlantLIBRA researchers looking at it for the first time.
Lehvoss UK, a subsidiary of Hamburg-based Lehmann&Voss&Co, has acquired ingredient distributor Gee Lawson, as part of its strategy to become a European force in nutritional additives.
US nutraceutical supplier InovoBiologic has applied for EU novel food approval for its proprietary mix of konjac, sodium alginate and xanthan gum for weight loss.
Swiss botanicals player Frutarom is pushing hard into botanical medicines and supplements markets in the EU, with pharma-grade extracts produced at its recently acquired Slovenian facility.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has lost its right to keep the names of contributing expert commentators a secret – a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that could be applied retrospectively.
“We see opportunities for scientifically justified nutritional products…”
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued guidance on how firms can compile “well-structured dossiers” for medical foods that may be permitted in the EU’s 28 nations as momentum to update archaic laws grows.
BASF says the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) failed to fulfil its health claim assessment remit after the Parma-based agency last month rejected its CLA-weight management appeal.
Canadian food supplements firm Advantage Health Matters has applied for EU novel foods approval for its chia seed products under European Union substantial equivalence rules via UK authorities.
Food giant Unilever appeared in a Hamburg court today to defend use of expert statements that its plant sterol-based Becel pro.activ did not have any side effects such as bloodstream plaque levels in healthy people.
EU regulation is confusing but with growing consumer demand, it's still an attractive market. FoodNavigator spoke to five companies about the challenges of selling insects in Europe.
Indiana firm Vesta Ingredients has won EU novel foods approval for its vitamin K2 form as it has been determined to be equivalent to a form already on-market and proven to be safe.
Austria could be taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over its ban on doorstep sales of products like food supplements, the European Commission says.