Europe’s three biggest probiotic groups have united behind a new European chapter of the International Probiotics Association (IPA) to deal with the “critical” 6-year regulatory imbroglio that has seen an EU-wide sales slide in the health claim-less sector.
The supplement and pharmaceutical sectors are ramping up lobbying efforts of new and old Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) – and beyond – to act on the decades-long EU impasse over maximum permitted levels (MPLs) of nutrients in food supplements...
US probiotic market growth has been bolstered by big media investment, something yet to be seen in the EU, according to the Swedish firm Probi which just secured its largest transatlantic order to date.
The Dutch supplements trade group NPN has severed ties with EHPM, the Europe-wide group it was a founding member of, citing differences in approaches to EU health claim reform.
The term ‘probiotic’ could make a re-appearance on pots of yogurt on sale in UK supermarkets, if Italy is successful in getting approval for its use as a ‘generic descriptor’.
"I think everybody would love to see at least one approved health claim in these areas at some point in time”
There is a general feeling that probiotic and prebiotic producers are getting closer to receiving their categories' first ever health claim; however many big companies are wary of rushing applications after learning the lessons from previous failed...
Lack of a recommendation from a doctor, taste and price are all top deterrences for European consumers reluctant to take omega-3 – but sustainability is not a key concern, according to the results of a seven-country survey from the Global Organization...
Tailored diets, sustainability, integrated policy-making and consumer awareness of the link between food and health are the four research priority ideas identified in the European Commission’s (EC) foresight report.
The European Commission has approved Benexia chia oil as a novel food for use in food supplements and in place of other plant fats and oils in foods and drink applications.
The European sports nutrition sector will promote dialogue with regulators at European level ahead of a Commission report due in mid-2015 that could alter the way the multi-billion euro sector is regulated throughout the 28-nation bloc.
A Dutch healthy foods and supplements association has proposed a traditional claims regulation or amendment to EU health claim laws it says would ‘elegantly’ solve the ongoing and stalled imbroglio about how traditional food use data can back claims.
Regulators in Italy’s €1.2bn food supplements market are cracking the harshest whips against health claims abusers in the EU – a firm was recently fined €250,000 – but will the wounds be deep enough to change the market?
Anti-lobbying campaigners have accused new European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker of putting the environment, consumers and workers at small companies at risk with a red-tape-cutting agenda.
Last week NutraIngredients published a guest article by author Bert Schwitters about the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) that discussed the status of botanicals and associated claims in the European Union. Schwitters was not happy with...
Nutrition author, blogger and harsh critic of the EU’s health claim laws, Bert Schwitters, says any attempt to create separate rules for more than 1500 on-hold botanical claim applications is doomed to failure in this guest article.
Since 2008 the severity of the EU’s health claim laws has seen many firms seek other routes to back claims – the EU’s medical devices legal avenue being one of them. Amsterdam-based Maikel Hendriks, the CEO of Medical Brands, examines the controversial,...
The UK Health Food Manufacturers' Association (HFMA) appeal against the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) has been heard in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) more than two years after it was lodged.
Sir Hayden Phillips, the man tasked with performing ‘independent reviews’ of UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rulings, has backed a July ruling against GlaxoSmithKline sports brand MaxiNutrition for exaggerated protein-recovery claims.
Director general of the European Commission’s Health and Consumers unit (DG SANCO), Paola Testori Coggi, has resigned following an investigation into a breach of tender policy.
To a backdrop of the Asean regulatory harmonisation process, a number of European Union officials have descended on Kuala Lumpur to attend a forum designed to apply the older bloc’s knowledge on the subject.
The European Food Safety Authority is willing and able to cope with the extra workload of novel food assessment that could come under its control, an official said at a European Parliament workshop.
Danish probiotics player Chr Hansen has launched a patent-pending soft gel that can deliver live probiotics with a two-year shelf life and matched it with a probiotic-omega-3 supplement targeting pregnant women.
Proposals to create a separate process for novel food approval from countries outside of the EU will not see the market flooded with unsafe foods, a European Commission official told a concerned audience at a European Parliament workshop.
The pending health claims for caffeine and bowel-function botanical hydroxyanthracene are the "hot potatoes" being dealt with by EFSA and the European Commission, according to the head of the Commission's unit for nutrition, food composition...
"As a member of Parliament, I need facts. And I think you, the food industry, have the resources to find those."
By Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn from the European Parliament in Brussels
The food industry should provide facts if it expects EU decision makers to consider dismantling the controversial novel foods regulation it has long-argued discourages innovation, a UK member of the European Parliament (MEP) said at a workshop in Brussels...
An Italian botanical supplements manufacturer has been given 30 days to pay a €250,000 fine after local authorities busted it for grossly exaggerated and unsubstantiated web-based health claims around immunity, diabetes, HIV, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s...
Special edition: Inside Europe's food supplement markets
The trade group Food Supplements Europe (FSE) and UK pro-supplements lobby group Consumers for Health Choice (CHC) take differing views on Europe’s food supplements markets and what is best for them and consumers. We present them here…
Special edition: Inside Europe's food supplement markets
The western and eastern European combined food supplements market will jump from €7bn to €9bn by 2018, according to Euromonitor International, with some markets set to double in value in that time.
Eastern European nations need to take greater actions to combat contamination in food supplements, according to one expert on product testing for illegal substances.
The new European Commission’s ‘better regulation’ mission must keep consumer welfare in mind and not translate to a “one-sided reduction” for businesses, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has warned.
Lithuanian politician Vytenis Andriukaitis will be the next commissioner for health and food safety, according to an official announcement today which saw several structure changes to the cabinet.
Danish firm ZPD has won EU food approval for its chondroitin sulfate – a process that has been riddled by misapprehension and prejudice, the company says.
Lithuanian politician Vytenis Andriukaitis has been earmarked as the next commissioner for health and food safety in a leaked Juncker line-up, but officials remain tight lipped.
Montana-based glucosamine supplier TSI Group has affirmed its wholly-owned Chinese facility meets strict new importation laws of the joint health nutrient.
UK supplements group, Consumers for Health Choice (CHC), is targeting newly elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in a campaign to raise awareness around still-up-for-grabs maximum permitted limits (MPLs) for vitamins and minerals in food...
The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has announced a complete ban on the import of beef, pork, fruit, poultry, cheeses and milk from the EU, US, Australia, Canada and Norway, according to Russian media.
The Joint FAO-WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives' (JECFA) backing of the use of red algae ingredient carrageenan in liquid infant formula will carry a "a great deal of weight" in regulatory circles, says seaweed industry representative,...
Rules on gluten-free labeling have been published under the EU Food Information to Consumers (FIC) regulation, and there are some important changes for the future, says the Association of European Coeliac Societies (AOECS).
Beauty claims are permissible under the EU nutrition and health claim regulation (NHCR) a European Commission committee has said in what an analyst says is a “first blessing” the EC may have taken from Italy’s stance on the matter.