A European Commission report has concluded the EU food supplements market remains fragmented but member state actions in areas like botanicals and maximum levels for some vitamins and minerals were worthy of replication, especially as internet trading...
France has proposed new legal daily limits for carnitine, creatine, lycopene and caffeine in supplements – the latter of which was half that defined as safe by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is reviewing a health claim application for creatine and muscle function in the elderly following an application from German chemical company AlzChem AG.
A BBC investigation in the UK has questioned quality control in the botanicals sector, especially those sold as food supplements. The industry has called for greater enforcement.
Joint health nutrient chondroitin varies greatly in safety and efficacy depending on its source and therefore needs greater regulation and standardisation, Canadian and Spanish researchers have said.
Salmonella in your infant nutrition, hormones in your supplements and lead in your detox. These were just some of the nasties included in this month’s round up of supplements blocked at the EU borders.
Xavier Prats Monne is to become the new general director of the European Commission’s health and food safety unit, DG SANTE, a position he takes on after the resignation of Paola Testori Coggi.
The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs committee has voted to reject amendments to the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, which would have seen nutrient profiles abandoned.
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.
A European Council committee has rejected a proposal that would have allowed the European Parliament the right to veto novel foods approvals – saying this would contradict the law’s purpose to simplify authorisation.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected a joint plea from the UK Health Food Manufacturers' Association (HFMA) and the Dutch NPN for the permitted health claims list regulation to be annulled.
The death of a 45-year-old British man who overdosed on ‘T5’ fat burning food supplements is tragic but not indicative of an under-regulated supplements industry, say trade groups.
Key European Parliament committee votes could push the European Commission to “eliminate” nutrient profiles from the 2006 nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR).
Israeli supplier Enzymotec has secured European Union novel foods approval for its K-Real krill form in an expanded selection of food and drink categories.
By Luca Bucchini, Hylobates Consulting managing director
The EU is old enough and ugly enough to get itself out of its botanical rut, so what's the hold up? Dr Luca Bucchini, managing director of Hylobates Consulting, asks.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged €689m to help tackle malnutrition as the European Commission announced €23.5m for a new nutrition initiative and €3.5bn by 2020.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) has asked its scientific committee to assess the safety of 'other substances' found on the Norwegian market - something it says is "largely unregulated" at EU level.
With the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) caffeine safety opinion finally published yesterday, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has called now for the ‘obvious conclusions’ to be drawn.
The long running process to develop a new centralised legislative procedure for novel food approvals has hit the rocks again – meaning major delays and backlogs are now on the cards, warn industry insiders.
Members of European Parliament (MEPs) have put forward what they describe to be a ‘final offer’ on proposed novel food regulations – warning that they will not compromise any further.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) needs a role change but that won’t come with its transparency initiative but legalisation changes, says industry.
Black market crack downs, neighbourhood kudos and moving goal posts - Croatia's supplement industry has seen big changes since it became a member of the European Union in July 2013.
The EU’s central science agency has clarified health claim procedures after a furore over a CLA weight management submission BASF and Stepan Lipid Nutrition unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw from the system earlier this year.
The percentage of food and drink launches carrying digestive health claims has fallen from 2.4% in 2009 to 2.2% in 2014 in the EU, says Innova Market Insights.
Global and EU regulation aims to stop companies using indigenous bio knowledge and material to make profits without filtering any of the benefits back.
Belgium has notified the European Commission of a draft decree replacing its current lists of botanicals with those approved under BELFRIT – bringing the number of plants from about 645 to 1019 and adding many new maximum levels and mandatory warnings.
US site Bodybuilding.com has opened its first UK distribution centre to better cater to its customer base in Europe - part of a community that includes 25 million unique visitors to its websites each month.
“The new EC has spoken of better regulation and growth so we trust them to consider our position and argumentation."
The just-formed European iteration of the International Probiotics Association (IPA) has met for the first time at its new Brussels base with Danone, Dupont-Danisco, Chr Hansen, Yakult, Probi and Lallemand all in attendance.
The German nutrition company Dextro Energy is to take the European Commission to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg over five banned glucose health claims.
Holland & Barrett plans a massive expansion of its global franchise base, something it says it is in good shape to do given its roots in Europe, one of the world’s toughest regulatory environments.
The European Union is a major consumer of food commodities sourced from illegally deforested land, according to a new report from Brussels-based NGO Fern.
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.
The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) plans to go back to its roots, with an Irish language name change, ahead of the April 2015 European Union (EU) milk quota abolition.
Manufacturers could help devise "self-regulatory commitments" on the composition and marketing of growing-up formula under a new European Commission "policy option."
Botanical ingredients may have a long history of use in traditional remedies and herbal medicine, but how do they fit it to the lives of modern consumers?
Two pending European Courts of Justice (ECJ) cases and the prospect of a unified pan-EU list of safe botanicals hold the potential to break the current deadlock around botanicals, according to experts.
A European Commission report due in July this year should bring legal clarity to the current regulation obscurity that surrounds the sports nutrition market, according to a paper by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA).
Yakult at Probiota 2015: “We want to be clear that before we invest we need to have some dialogue with EFSA...”
Yakult and leading academics expressed frustration at what they see as unfair and opaque scientific requirements around probiotic health claims in the European Union – but how much is industry to blame and could social media be a data-sharing saviour?
Alexandra Nikolakopoulou has been announced as the new head of the European Commission’s DG SANTE unit for nutrition, food composition and information, stepping into the shoes of Basil Mathioudakis.
Supplement use in Germany is taking people over tolerable upper intake limits in only a few cases involving magnesium, calcium and zinc, and this largely applies to elderly individuals, according to a survey.
"The EU is the only region in the world where the use of the term ‘probiotic’ is banned.”
The secretary general of a leading probiotic association has launched a stinging attack on the European Union health claims regime she said is discriminatory, confusing and shameful.