The next UK government must do much more to tackle Britain’s poor dietary habits, according to the UK Coronary Prevention Group (UKCPG), a charity dedicated to preventing heart disease through healthy lifestyles.
Unlike health claims, ‘beauty from within’ claims are regulated post-market and only when challenged – and how this process goes will depend on the case and the member state concerned.
A study by the European Food Safety Authority of cereal grain and cereal products has found low levels of mycotoxin sterigmatocystin in most of the samples to be below proposed limits.
From the Gut Microbiota for Health congress in Barcelona, Spain
EU-banned marketing terms like ‘probiotics’ need to be reclaimed and recently reworked definitions and criteria can help win ongoing regulatory and research battles, ISAPP told a microbiota congress in Barcelona on Saturday.
China is “unaware” of any consignment of New Zealand infant formula being held at its border in response to the 1080 contamination threat, says the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
Friends of the Earth Germany has said it will step up its fight to protect bees after German chemical giant Bayer CropScience failed to sue it in court for claiming that a pesticide manufactured by the company could harm bees.
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) is to begin a campaign to stop parents and schools giving energy drinks to children at birthday parties and after sport.
The British government has failed to tackle poor nutrition and diet, and should do more to take public health nutrition into consideration in every area of policy, says a report by the UK Coronary Prevention Group.
The World Health Organisation has said that companies need to reduce the marketing of sugar-rich products if consumers are to slash their intake to 10% of daily calories.
Adverts for Nourkrin hair growth supplement containing biotin and horsetail extract, and Rescue Night sleep aid with white chestnut Bach flower have had their health claims refuted in the UK even though one of the nutrients had an EU approved health claim.
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) safe upper limit for caffeine could mean a de facto ban for 80% of UK males, whose average weight would take them over the body weight referenced in the opinion, according to a food law expert.
Adoption of the DIAAS protein quality measurement method by Codex Alimentarius would be "advantageous" to its development, says a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) report.
The Danish and Austrian authorities have warned against toxic food supplements ahead of an EU-wide safety logo set to crack down on illegal retailers posing as online pharmacies.
Industry insiders are disputing whether the UK medicines regulator went too far – or not far enough – in its recent removal of 107 Saint John’s Wort products from Amazon UK.
The onus should not be on consumers to choose healthy foods but on companies to help reduce consumption, says Food Policy professor at City University London, Tim Lang.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has established vitamin A population reference intakes (PRIs) in the EU, recommending 750 μg for men and 650 μg for women.
EFSA: "How can it have both an adverse and beneficial effect? It can."
EFSA's draft opinion on caffeine does not contain contradictions since the health effects of caffeine can be both negative and positive depending on the context, the authority has said at a stakeholder meeting.
Accounting for the lifestyle choice of excessive consumption of energy drinks and alcohol was not the point of EFSA's risk assessment on caffeine, the authority has said at a Brussels stakeholder meeting on the draft yesterday.
Academics have welcomed the WHO’s recommendation to slash added sugar intake to 5-10% of calories – but the food industry has said it is misleading and based on weak evidence.
The chief of the British Specialist Nutrition Association (BSNA) is passing the baton after 11 years with the infant, elderly, gluten-free and other specialty foods group.
New scientific opinions published by EFSA mean glycaemic carbohydrates can be said to contribute to normal cognitive functions, but a suggested link between L-tug lycopene and lower LDL-cholesterol was dismissed.
Buglossoides oil is a safe novel food ingredient, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said in an opinion that should put member state concerns on safety and strength of evidence to rest.
The British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) has rejected calls to ban the sale of energy drinks to children under 16, claiming they are not promoted to this age group.
Special Edition: Powered up and packing nutritional punch
Energy drinks contain up to 20 teaspoons of sugar per 500ml serving – more than three times the maximum adult daily intake of free sugars a day, according to research released by Action on Sugar.
Health claims made by supplement retailer Herbalveda for Himalayan garlic, bitter apricot kernels and gudmar leaves are unsubstantiated and must be removed, says the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).
Online claims that Advanced Health’s Proactol XS has ‘unbeatable fat-binding capacity’ and can aid weight loss and lowering cholesterol have been banned by the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).
It would be extremely difficult for consumers to devise a 600 calorie diet providing 100% of vitamin and mineral RDAs themselves, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said in its rejection of a complaint against LighterLife Fast.
Manufacturers could help devise "self-regulatory commitments" on the composition and marketing of growing-up formula under a new European Commission "policy option."
The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance’s (ESSNA) campaign against non-compliance has already seen its membership double and more than 60 cases investigated over the last 18 months, something it hoped would continue as it launched social media...
Two pending European Courts of Justice (ECJ) cases and the prospect of a unified pan-EU list of safe botanicals hold the potential to break the current deadlock around botanicals, according to experts.
Adding in vitamins and minerals is one way the industry is getting around current health and nutrition regulation and creating a 'health halo' around otherwise unhealthy products, according to the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).
A European Commission report due in July this year should bring legal clarity to the current regulation obscurity that surrounds the sports nutrition market, according to a paper by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA).
Different maximum limits for red yeast rice mean the natural cholesterol management product is a food supplement in one country but a drug in others. Is it time for EU harmonisation?
Yakult at Probiota 2015: “We want to be clear that before we invest we need to have some dialogue with EFSA...”
Yakult and leading academics expressed frustration at what they see as unfair and opaque scientific requirements around probiotic health claims in the European Union – but how much is industry to blame and could social media be a data-sharing saviour?
Alexandra Nikolakopoulou has been announced as the new head of the European Commission’s DG SANTE unit for nutrition, food composition and information, stepping into the shoes of Basil Mathioudakis.
Rethinking the cutoff thresholds of feeding regimens that malnourished children are put on could help to reduce the rate of relapse, which currently stands at 37%, say experts.
EFSA has issued a long-awaited immune and gut health claim guidance document it says draws on years of dossier assessment and includes biomarker updates, but a leading consultant was left unimpressed saying it “does not provide big news”.
A high intake of folic acid does not cause cancer so current upper levels and maximum amounts for the vitamin should stay the same, says the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety (VKM).
"The EU is the only region in the world where the use of the term ‘probiotic’ is banned.”
The secretary general of a leading probiotic association has launched a stinging attack on the European Union health claims regime she said is discriminatory, confusing and shameful.
Europe’s central food science agency says European adults require on average 0.83 g protein/kg body weight each day from “high quality protein and to protein in mixed diets” in a just-issued opinion.
Healthy Marketing, trading as Woods Health, must remove its advert using unapproved general health claims around glucosamine, omega-3 and joint health, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled.
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against supplement manufacturer Vitabiotics concerning an implied claim that its Pregnacare Conception multivitamin range could help women conceive a child.
