European Commission

Vitafoods insights: the cost of going green

Vitafoods insights: the cost of going green

By Olivia Haslam

The European supplements industry has expressed widespread support for government-enforced sustainability standards in a Vitafoods Survey, but it doesn’t want to shoulder the cost.

Getty | CharlieAJA

How to make a novel foods application

By Nikki Hancocks

With novel food applications on the rise, a regulatory expert has provided a breakdown of what this authorisation process is all about.

The Commission's roadmap evaluation of botanicals and health claims could be rendered useless unless it is clear in what is meant by the term 'botanical', says Bert Schwitters. Photo credit: iStock.com

The botanical roadmap to nowhere: Legal definition needed for real clarity

By Bert Schwitters, author of Health Claims Censored

If the European Commission’s regulatory rethink is to provide any meaningful improvement for the botanical industry, it must set a clear legal definition of what botanicals actually are, argues author and commentator Bert Schwitters. 

Photo credit: iStock.com / Halfpoint

Dear Santa…Nutrition industry writes its wish list for 2016

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

‘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...

'Policy makers need wholly new approach to the management of EU spending and investm​​ent,' says European Court of Auditors report

EU misspent €6.3bn in 2014

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

The EU misspent €6.3bn in 2014 overall, according to a report from the European Court of Auditors that called for change. 

BASF-Stepan: “We hope, also for future applicants, that EFSA will focus more on their concrete mandate in answering a scientific question instead of taking over the role of risk management.”

‘EFSA failed in their evaluation…’

BASF launches stinging attack on EFSA

By Shane STARLING

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.

US firm wins EU novel foods approval for vitamin K2

US firm wins EU novel foods approval for vitamin K2

By Shane STARLING

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.

'Scare-mongering' reports have over emphasised the dangers of quitting the EU

Food firms ‘to face higher costs after EU exit’

By Michael Stones

Food and drink manufacturers would face higher long-term costs if Britain quits the EU, but the move would have less impact on business than some “scare-mongering” reports suggest.

The organisation wants any pesticides with evidence of harm to bees taken off the shelves

Campaigners win case against Bayer over pesticide bee claims

By Joyeeta Basu

Friends of the Earth Germany has said it will step up its fight to protect bees after German chemical giant Bayer CropScience failed to sue it in court for claiming that a pesticide manufactured by the company could harm bees.

NPN leaves EHPM  :

Health claims divide EU supplement trade groups

By Shane STARLING

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.

“Most of the research priorities identified should be addressed in the coming years to deliver results in the short- to mid-term (before 2030),” said the report

Commission defines food research priorities to 2050

By Anna Bonar

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.

NPN: “Herbs at the moment are the biggest problem but not the only problem.

‘Elegant’: Dutch group seeks traditional health claims regulation

By Shane STARLING

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.

Commission was wrong to separate med agency and EFSA: MEP

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

The Commission was wrong to separate the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), nutrient profiles are unconvincing and the threat of botanical court action is unsurprising, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP)...

EC gives thumbs up to €6m PlantLIBRA botanicals project. But will there be more?

From the 2014 International PlantLIBRA Conference in Vienna, Austria

EC gives thumbs up to €6m PlantLIBRA botanicals project. But will there be more?

By Shane STARLING

As the EU’s ambitious €6m PlantLIBRA project to further botancials science drew to a close this week at a congress in Vienna, we asked the European Commission about the project’s relative merits – and whether a ‘mark 2’ was on the cards.

Europe's food industry welcomes EU-US trade negotiations

Europe's food industry welcomes EU-US trade negotiations

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

European food industry trade body FoodDrinkEurope has welcomed formal negotiations between the European Union and the United States on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), announced at the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland.

Yoghurt group lobbies EC over probiotic labelling ban

Yoghurt group lobbies EC over probiotic labelling ban

By Shane Starling

An industry group that includes Danone and Dupont-Danisco as members has written to the European Commission to reinstate the use of the EU-banned term ‘probiotic’ on products across the bloc.

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