Finland's National Food Agency announced this week that it has established an expert network to evaluate whether health claims used in marketing products are adequately backed by science.
The expert group will concentrate on ordinary foodstuffs, but will also evaluate foods for particular nutritional uses and supplements, especially those aimed at vulnerable consumer groups or those that are 'marketed aggressively'.
In Finland, section 6 of the Food Act prohibits companies from attributing properties for the prevention, treatment or cure of human illness to foodstuffs. Functional claims and claims referring to a reduced risk of disease can be made, however, as long as these are based on research which meets scientific standards.
The National Food Agency last year published a control manual on health claims which clarified the interpretation of section 6 of the Food Act. This year it has prepared training and other materials for the state provincial offices to support food control at the municipal level. However it does not have sufficient resources to evaluate health claims and will rely on the expert network to carry out this work.
The European Union recently published its proposal to regulate the use of nutrient and health claims in the economic area. The proposal has provoked concern from across the food industry, with supplement makers worried that it will severely limit marketing potential and others claiming it wrongly segregates foods into 'good' and 'bad' groups. It has yet to be passed by the European council and parliament but is expected to enter into force in 2005.
The Finnish agency's expert group held its first meeting on 1 September and evaluations will begin this autumn.