Varying national approaches to ingredients, novel foods and health claims are three of the main issues to be addressed at the one-day workshop organised by the food and nutrition policy consultancy EAS.
“While the European Union seems to be moving ahead with the harmonisation of food legislation, a company wishing to market a food supplement product across Europe must still comply with a combination of European Union and national laws,” said EAS Regulatory Affairs Manager Katarina Wagner.
“Manufacturers are often having to reformulate according to the country-specific rules. It is therefore essential to have a good knowledge of the pan-European regulatory environment to overcome the challenges to marketing products across the EU.”
The workshop, which is limited to 25 attendees, has already been fully booked, confirmed EAS this morning. In the past, the group has repeated workshops that have generated high interest, but there are currently no indications that this will be the case for the current event.
Navigating labels and claims
Elodie Lebastard and Katarina Wagner, EAS food law adviser and regulatory affairs manager, will provide overviews on supplement ingredients and marketing across the EU, and how to deal with a lack of regulatory harmonisation.
EAS Regulatory Adviser Pieter Lagae will break down the EU Novel Food regulation as it currently stands, as well as the changes and implications of proposed amendments put forward by the Commission in 2008. He will also give an overview of supplement label requirements.
EAS Regulatory Affairs Manager Stefanie Geiser will take a look at the health claims regulation, including the status of work towards the ‘Community list’ of Article 13 health claims and the outcome of EFSA’s evaluations and future timing and expected trends. The session will also address EFSA Article 14/13.5 claims dossier opinions and latest clarifications on the dossier application procedure (e.g. scientific substantiation criteria, proof for proprietary data protection, Member States dossier acceptance and withdrawals).