Vitafoods Europe 2011 revealed upbeat ingredients, supplements and functional food players forging ahead after the recent recession years and rapidly adapting to life under strict European Union health claim regulations.
Ensuring EFSA-approved health claims are understood and trusted by consumers is just as important as providing the scientific evidence to back them up, according to Dr Fiona Lalor.
The European Food Safety Authority has rejected criticism that its handling of Article 13.1 health claims, particularly concerning botanicals and food supplements, contravenes consumer choice and damages small and medium-sized businesses.
The European Food Safety Authority’s evaluation of Article 13.1 health claims, particularly concerning botanicals and food supplements, contravenes consumer choice and damages small and medium-sized businesses, warns an influential group of MEPs.
Friday’s fourth batch of article 13 general function health claims highlighted inconsistencies in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approach, according to Joerg Gruenwald, PhD, the president of German health claims consultancy and CRO, Analyze...
When it comes to deciding whether to purchase functional foods, ‘the principal considerations still do not pertain to health, but rather taste and price’ according to a new consumer study.
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim panellist, professor Seppo Salminen, has co-edited a book investigating probiotic science and health claims, with a focus on regional differences.
Consumers with a positive view of functional foods are likely to have an exaggerated understanding of the health claims such products carry, according to new research.
An uncertain climate regarding health claims could lead to EU consumers losing trust in health claims altogether and shifting back to unhealthy diets, warns Euromonitor
Leading European prebiotic and probiotic researchers have begun a campaign to change the EU’s health claims system that has so far unanimously rejected its science.
2010 has been another tough year for the European functional food and supplements industries as health claim rejections have continued to flood in, leaving some in a state of high anxiety, fear and dread. Others are just mildly annoyed at a situation...
Should the FDA work to be more like EFSA? Speaking at the NutraIngredients Health Claims 2010 conference Andrew Shao said the two organisations are already very similar in the way they review scientific claims.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will tackle potential online breaches of its new digital marketing code one case at a time, but industry has called for further guidance at a London workshop yesterday.
EFSA does not believe that a negative opinion is the end of the road for 13.1 health claims, but it expects some to be resubmitted with a new slate of data behind them, according to Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle.
Crucial. Claims. Knowledge. With industry still reeling from the latest batch of article 13.1 opinions, NutraIngredients has been busy putting the final touches on its second health claims conference in Brussels – now less than a month away.
Uncertainty created by the raft of health claim rejections emanating from the European Food Safety Authority’s Parma, Italy, headquarters is fostering a climate of soft claims, according to a market researcher.
A UK-based health claims expert says the European Food Safety Authority’s interpretation of the European Union 2006 nutrition and health claims regulation is too narrow and straying from its intention.
Clinically measured, increased levels of microbiota such as lactobacilli and/or bifidobacteria in the gut will not alone validate health claims, the European Food Safety Authority’s health claims panel has affirmed this week. But significant reductions...
The FDA is too lenient regarding health claims and should follow EFSA’s lead and hold foods “to the same scientific standards as those for drugs”, according to the editors of Scientific American.
In the third excerpt from a NutraIngredients health claims roundtable, our experts wonder whether industry is being creative enough with the new European Union regulations.
Global probiotics leader Danone has paid an undisclosed sum to Swedish dairy Skånemejerier for a 51 per cent stake in its probiotic juice brand, ProViva.
Brand names such as Unilever’s Slim.Fast can be interpreted as health claims but the manner of interpretation is not yet set in tone, with further discussions required, according to the European Commission.
Dutch-British food company Unilever says Slim.Fast, the brand name for its highly popular weight management product, is not under threat of being construed as an unauthorised health claim in the European Union.
A group of eight Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) met with EFSA representatives last week to discuss matters including health claims, nutrient profiling, GMOs and nanotechnology in food.
Health claims made about food products via telephone marketing calls could place some companies at an unfair advantage by allowing them to sidestep the EU nutrition and health claims regulation, according to an industry consultant.
Food companies will increasingly have to pool resources and work with each other in order to fund the kind of human intervention studies required to support health claims, according to Coca-Cola Europe functional ingredients and external technology acquisition...
'Academic' references provided by the food industry to support applications under the EU health claims Regulation included excerpts from the Old Testament, Wikipedia, a Tea Association press release, a Royal Air Force report and the American...
Functional and fortified foods have a key role to play in filling the nutritional gaps in consumer diets, but on-pack signposting is key to helping people make informed choices, says the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF).
The EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation is unlikely to stifle innovation within the food industry as many fear, according to a member of the European Food Safety Authority’s NDA panel speaking in London yesterday.
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.
As the drama surrounding the European Union health claims system thickens, Vitafoods hosts a day-long seminar that will unpick key issues from marketing practices to the drug/food borderline to legal and consumer perspectives of healthy food and supplement...
The European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM) has called on the European Commission to halt to the “piecemeal adoption” of article 13 of the EU nutrition and health claims regulation.
Food giant Nestle was once more challenged at its AGM in Lausanne last week, as activists again raised the red flag that has been fluttering since the first boycott the company faced three decades ago.
UK trading standards officers have been advised to adopt a “pragmatic approach” to the use of nutrition claims on food and drink packaging that are not currently in the official annex of approved claims but are under consideration by regulators.
“Many in industry are pinning their hopes on EFSA showing them the light at the meeting, including the likes of Danone, which withdrew three probiotic immunity/digestive health article 13.5 claims in April, citing clarification it is expecting on Big...
While low-glycaemic index (low-GI) health claims have suffered a major setback following last week’s negative opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), it is “by no means the end of the road” for glycaemic control, according to experts in...
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.
The European Food Safety Authority, US Food and Drug Administration, and Health Canada will share a platform at an upcoming Cantox-hosted health claims conference.
Belgian ingredients giant, the Beneo Group, says new European Union health rules favour ‘active’ health claims such as phytosterols, while discounting ‘passive’ claims such as those that replace ingredients with healthier versions to make products healthier.
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
Europe's leading trade groups are set for a meeting with the European Commission to discuss their concerns over the health claims assessment, and EFSA's reluctance to engage in dialogue.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
US attorney Jonathan Emord draws parallels between his experiences in the US challenging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the current health claims situation in Europe on the basis of free speech.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
Legal action to challenge the strict claims assessment process enshrined in the EU health claims Regulation could be pursued on the grounds of free speech, according to a leading US lawyer.
As the 100 delegates filed away into the misty Brussels night, Stephen Daniells and Shane Starling took a moment to share their thoughts on the NutraIngredients Health Claims 2010 conference.
Danone is calling for a clear health claims regulatory timetable to be implemented over the next few weeks because the current lack of clarity is “restricting the competitiveness of businesses”, reports our sister publication Food Manufacture.
As the European Union health claims climate evolves, companies are learning just what is required to demonstrate the benefits of healthy foods and supplements.
Ka-CHING! Hear that? No it’s not the sound of overflowing cash registers as consumers throw endless wads of euros at scientifically-backed, healthy foods in greater numbers than ever before.