While the outcome of the meeting is not yet known, GOED will be hoping its letter will have forced attendees to consider European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) findings that ALA is only valuable physiologically as a pre-cursor to DHA.
The group feared that the meeting would see a claim for 0-18 years for ALA (alpha linoleic acid), but only 0-12 months for DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).
“EFSA has specifically given the Commission a letter and presentation stating that in their opinion the ALA effect is only due to conversion to DHA and therefore any ALA claim should also apply to DHA,” said GOED executive director, Adam Ismail.
“Health claims are supposed to reflect the best scientific advice available, and while the Member States are under no obligation to follow EFSA’s advice, it would be the first time they have ignored EFSA under the health claims regulations.”