GOED explains its “big plans” for omega-3 health claims in 2012

At Supply Side West in Las Vegas, the executive director of the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED), Adam Ismail, highlighted why his group believes change is required so claims reflect, “the current state of science.”​

“We’ve got big plans for 2012. One of our goals is to petition the FDA to upgrade the US heart health claim from a qualified claim to a fully approved claim,”​ Ismail said.

“Right now it has a lot of disclaimer language attached to the claim…but we need something more friendly that reflects the current state of science.”​

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“We now have 10 years more advanced science and the body of science has almost tripled so there is a lot more evidence in healthy populations about the effects of omega-3s.”​

Other issues include minimum levels to prevent omega-3 “fair dusting” ​where minimal ingredient levels are used to earn claims with inefficacious doses.

In Europe, the group is, “hoping to leverage the same work to get a similar heart disease risk reduction claim established in the EU”.​

“Right now there is an article 13 claim pending on how EPA [eicosapentaenoic acid] and DHA [docosahexaenoic acid] help maintain normal cardiac function, but we think there is evidence for a stronger claim that EPA and DHA may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.”​

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Quality​

In another programme, the group has also begun a random quality testing scheme that builds on its quality logo launched in 2010.

Quality concerns in China are also being addressed with the group recruiting new Chinese suppliers, and education campaigns engaged in.