The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) is warning consumers about unspecified, high-dose green tea products (Camellia sinensis) after they were linked to liver complaints, even though the details of consumption have not been revealed.
In this guest article EU food law expert Luca Bucchini, PhD, explains why it is time for a serious review of the EU’s health claim system. Bringing in behavioural scientists for starters...
A recent draft reform of China’s Food Safety Law, which is now available for public comment, is a great improvement for supplements exporters who have been increasingly frustrated at the time and expense required to gain certification in the country.
The €2bn EU botanical food supplements market has been boosted by France’s imminent adoption of a 600-strong, positive list based on the well-regarded BELFRIT list, according to industry sources.
Dietary and health supplement manufacturers in India will be breathing a sigh of relief after a decision by the Bombay High Court to quash a controversial advisory by the country’s food regulator concerning prior product approvals.
The Council for Responsible Nutrition has teamed with an international dietary supplement trade group to disseminate science-based information about the safety of supplements in an effort to help inform discussions about the harmonization of regulations...
EFSA has approved Dietary Reference Values (DRV) for folate, niacin and selenium, which set population reference intakes, adequate intakes or average requirements for the European population.
France’s food safety agency (ANSES) has put itself at scientific odds with the EU’s central food science authority by concluding data is lacking to back plant sterols and stanols for cholesterol reduction.
China has finally published official dietary reference intakes (DRIs) for EPA and DHA omega 3 fatty acids—a move that is expected to help thousands of its consumers who are at risk of poor health by not consuming enough of the substance.
EFSA has adopted its opinion on the essential infant formula composition following a period of public consultation which saw nearly 400 comments stream in on the likes of omega-3 form DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), probiotics, fluoride and sucrose's...
Brain health nutrient phosphatidylserine (PS) has won EU novel foods approval in yoghurt foods, bars, chocolate and milk powder drinks, opening non-supplements potential for the first time in the EU’s 28 member states.
Energy drink association asks EFSA to aim for precision after an open NDA panel discussion on a draft caffeine safety opinion provides more questions than answers.
Transparency is important, but this may not be compatible with openness of scientific debate, according to the temporary chair of the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) panel.
Exotic and functional fruits and vegetables like cashew nut fruit, chu chu and their extracts are set for an easier passage into European Union markets if mooted simplifications to EU Novel Foods laws come to fruition, according to a UK-based expert.
Danone Nutricia’s vindication from any wrongdoing in press adverts for Aptamil with Pronutra+ follow-on milk was described as “absurd” by Baby Milk Action (BMA), which filed a complaint with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) following numerous...
'If they are not included, they may be relegated to novel food hell'
Firms must fight the case of the botanicals that did not make it on the BELFRIT list, according to a consultant behind a comprehensive index of those excluded from the Belgian, French and Italian agreement.
It could take up to five years for the the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to adopt the Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS) protein measurement method, British protein specialist Volac believes.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against a Nutricia advert, which it says implied a child’s intake of Vitamin D could be affected if they did not consume ‘Growing Up Milk.’
Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) said it was disappointed that certain nutrients were deemed "unnecessary" in the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) recent draft opinion on infant formula.
The International Formula Council (IFC) "confuses" US law and the WHO Code when defending the practice of supplying free infant formula samples for hospital discharge bags, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and UNICEF claim.
The UK’s advertising watchdog has lambasted Slenderiiz UK for making insufficiently robust medicinal and weight loss claims on its website for its herbal homeopathic supplements - Slenderiix Drops and Xceler8 Drops.
The regulatory picture for dietary supplements in Latin America is still very much a patchwork quilt, according to an expert who has studied the markets. But harmonization is on the horizon, and companies that are up to speed stand to reap the benefits.
“Clasado never at any point sought to make any misleading or exaggerated claims.”
UK-Jersey prebiotic specialist Clasado has had web-based, gut-immunity claims slapped down by the UK advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which found they were unauthorised under the EU nutrition and health claims regulation...
DuPont has won official approval for probiotic-based gut health claims based on its strains in Switzerland after working with a local retailer. The company hopes the latest victory will help unlock the process of approving probiotic health claims for...
DuPont-Danisco has won official approval for probiotic-based gut health claims based on its strains in Switzerland after working with a local retailer.
Production permits held by more than one third of China's infant formula manufacturers have not been renewed, following a six-month campaign to boost the standard of domestically-made products.
The United States alone stands to lose over US$8bn in dietary supplement exports to China as a result of the burgeoning market’s onerous regulatory environment.
Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE), the trade association that represents the interests of dietetic food manufacturers across the EU, has voiced concerns about the ‘current legal uncertainty’ surrounding slimming foods for overweight and obese consumers.
Joint health nutrient glucosamine has won a “profound” legal case in the UK High Court that affirms its right to be sold as a food supplement after a Chinese pharma firm sought to reclassify it purely as a drug.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has delivered a positive scientific opinion on Monsanto’s MON 87769 soybean crop, which has been genetically modified to contain stearidonic acid.
ASA: “Our referrals to Trading Standards are a clear warning to those who won’t stick to the rules that they face the prospect of legal sanctions. And these are just the first referrals"
The UK advertising watchdog has referred two UK supplement makers to enforcement authorities for, “persistent misleading advertising health claims in breach of the Advertising Code.” More are set to follow, it said, as the agency cracks down on EU nutrition...
The EU’s handling of the term ‘probiotic’ is evidence of how the state is seeking to control voluntary as well as mandatory product information through the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR), according to the outspoken blogger, author and...
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has dismissed a health claim application suggesting 'complex carbohydrates' have a beneficial effect on infants and young children by increasing satiety.
Unhealthy diets now rank above tobacco global as cause of preventable diseases
The international community must develop a global convention similar to the legal framework for tobacco control to fight diet-related ill health, warn Consumers International and the World Obesity Federation.
Dispatches from the IPA World Congress in Athens, Greece
The EU’s central food science agency will next month open a consultation on immune and gut health that will inform a revised guidance that could come before year’s end and may appease sector anxiety.
EFSA MGMT BOARD: "Bernhard will ...provide Europe with the best scientific advice to protect consumers from food-related risks..."
Doctor Bernhard Url is the new chief of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) after its management board confirmed the acting-chief as its next executive director this week.
Joerg Gruenwald, a longtime natural products industry consultant, said the advent of DSHEA was a huge event in Europe as well as America. It helped give European dietary supplement companies secure access to the biggest market in the world.
“This has to be one of the most stupid regulatory rulings that I have seen.”
Cholesterol-battling plant stanol-based Benecol has been busted in the UK for exaggerating TV advert claims even though they were based on UK National Health Service (NHS), British Heart Foundation (BHF) and World Health Organization (WHO) data.
The drinks industry has slammed as “absurd” Western Australia’s decision to ban energy drinks as mixers during late-night screenings of World Cup matches.
The European Commission has adopted new measures to reduce consumer’s maximum levels of exposure to cadmium in foods such as chocolate and infant formula.
Last week’s UK ruling that health claims made on Ribena’s website were ‘exaggerated’ suggests there is not as much flexibility as the industry might have hoped when it comes to rewording authorised health claims to make them more understandable to consumers,...
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a string of warnings against a number of herbal medicines sold online and containing ingredients not authorised for the sale in the UK.
New Jersey supplier Pharmachem says a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) rejection of its ‘CranMax’ cranberry ingredient’s ability to prevent urinary tract infection (UTI) in women won’t change its European business plans.
Naturex and Pharmachem are the latest cranberry players to be rebuffed by the EU’s central science agency. In the first, it this week failed French botanical giant Naturex's urinary tract infection (UTI) dossier containing a key study it said, “showed...
