The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has confirmed that joint health nutrient glucosamine can pose health risks to those taking anti-blood clotting drugs, after the issue was raised some years ago by German authorities.
DMAA-containing Jack3D and products like it are unauthorised drugs and being stripped from UK retail shelves and online catalogues as part of a crackdown against sports supplements by the medicines regulator, the MHRA.
Norwegian firm Calanus AS has applied to the UK Food Standards Agency for European Union novel foods approval to market an omega-3 oil derived from the miniature North Atlantic Ocean shrimp, Calanus finmarchicus.
DMAA (methylhexaneamine/1,3-dimethylamylamine) has become the subject of urgent discussions between UK food and medicines regulators to determine the status of the controversial sports supplement stimulant.
The human nutrition division of French yeast and probiotic specialist Lesaffre says a new probiotic dossier will win Europe’s first ever probiotic health claim due to the existence of, “3-4 proprietary studies”.
An international court this month fingered food supplements as the most likely source of the banned stimulant clenbuterol in the blood of 2010 Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, even as a leading European testing service says it has never encountered...
Sterol food players Unilever and Raisio are surprised Germany’s food agency has called for a safety review of the cholesterol-lowering ingredient when, they say, the job has already been performed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The UK Department of Health has indicated nutrition-style claims like ‘contains glucosamine’ or ‘contains probiotics’ will be deemed implied health claims if they are the subject of negative EFSA opinions.
Plant sterol and stanol consumption by those like children who do not have raised cholesterol could itself lead to heart problems, the German foods safety agency has said.
The UK food supplements and healthy foods industry is backing a motion among some European Parliamentarians to veto the article 13 health claims register containing 2000 rejections that could be law in three months.
The recent veto of 'percentage less' claims by MEPs is indicative of a lack of trust in the food industry, said the UK trade group, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which is intent on continuing to push for such amendments to the health...
Anyone who has spent any appreciable amount of time working in the food industry realises that the issue of ‘junk food’ marketing to children is a hydra that rears two heads for every one cut off.
Campaigning against the proposed health claims register for foods and food ingredients can now move to the next stage after Members of European Parliament by lodged an official objection to the planned list of approved and rejected health claims.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published population reference intakes (PRIs) for protein, the latest stage of its work on dietary reference values (DRVs), with a particular focus on levels needed during pregnancy and childhood.
Ten years ago the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) was established to fight rampant malnutrition in the developing world via micronutrient fortification programmes. But for a long time, it struggled to effect change in the face of logistical,...
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) should discount probiotic studies that have passed peer-review and been published in even the most prestigious nutrition science journals, because the peer-review process itself “is overrated”, says a leading...
A federal judge in California has given the green light to a class action lawsuit filed in 2009 alleging that healthcare giant Bayer misled shoppers by claiming its men’s vitamins could support prostate health.
The New Zealand Government is seeking to further delay a decision on folic acid fortification citing a need to consult and review more scientific data.
The soy industry is reeling after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) rejected for the third time a soy-cholesterol reduction health claim submission – even as authorities in 10 countries have backed similar claims.
The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) has taken a swipe at the newly formed Herbal Quality Campaign (QHC) in the UK, labelling its concerns about herbal food supplements “bogus”.
Loopholes in the law may save probiotic yogurt manufacturers from having to remove products from sale when the new EU nutrition and health claims legislation comes into effect.
The UK advertising watchdog has ruled in favour of breakfast cereal giant Kellogg’s in relation to a complaint that a TV advert for a cereal was misleading in relation to its nutritional content.
Paola Testori Coggi, the director general of the EC’s Health and Consumer Health Directorate (DG Sanco), yesterday presented a health claims register containing 222 approvals and about 2000 rejections to a European Parliament (EP) committee, as lobbying...
MEPs have rejected the revised nutrition claims list recently adopted by the European Commission, a move which could be detrimental for reformulation efforts in the food sector says a trade body.
The Herbal Quality Campaign (HQC), conceived to push the merits of registering botanicals as medicinal products under new European Union laws, has formally entered life with a Westminster ceremony last week.
The Spanish manufacturer of a plant sterol drink has been told to amend cholesterol-lowering claims for being too ambiguous in dosage and making unsubstantiated disease reduction claims.
UK group Consumers for Health Choice (CHC) has increased lobbying efforts to amend the EU nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR) in the UK by taking out full page adverts in The House magazine read by UK parliamentarians.
Ocean Nutrition Canada has applied to have an omega-3 algal oil approved under European Union novel foods regulations – stating it is ‘substantially equivalent’ to an existing approved oil manufactured by Martek-DSM.
The Italian Ministry of Health has revised probiotic characterisation, labelling and claim guidelines that may open claim-making around the idea of microflora balance.
UK Liberal Democrat MEP, Sir Graham Watson, has challenged European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli, to a prune eating contest in an adhoc, non-double blind, non-placebo controlled trial to demonstrate the digestive health benefits...
Agrofood giant Cargill is alerting the world to look out for more food labels bearing its Barliv-branded barley beta-glucan in 2012 after winning a positive cholesterol-lowering opinion from the European Union science agency last month.
“Currently, there is a gap between the point where the biomedical science ends (with the publication of a paper in a scientific journal) and the point where the business begins (with the claim for a health benefit).”
The Danish Medicines Agency is continuing to detect the unauthorised weight loss pharma active sibutramine, noting an increase in food products like juice, tea, coffee and milkshakes.
Neptune Technologies and Bioressources has filed ‘continuation’ applications with the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) it says will allow it to pursue “additional patent claims that should preclude our competitors from selling their krill oil...
The European Union should put the brakes on any mooted changes to rules governing milks targeting 1-3 year olds until a scientific review can be conducted, according to the EU group that represents infant food makers.
Barry Callebaut has submitted an article 13.5 health claim dossier to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) linking cocoa flavanols and healthy blood flow.
The UK Safer Herbal Medicines Campaign (SHMC) that was conceived last year as an industry initiative to push for greater enforcement of the EU Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), will be revamped in a public launch at Westminster...
Trade in sports products containing the controversial stimulant DMAA (methylhexaneamine/1,3-dimethylamylamine) is illegal in the European Union, and should be brought to an immediate halt by EU and member state authorities, according to the Council for...
The UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has rejected complaints against Coca-Cola brand Powerade which claimed the firm’s hydration claims – backed by UK Olympic athlete Jessica Ennis – were unjustified.
Cargill is celebrating the European Union approval of a Mortierella alpine, algae fermented arachidonic acid (ARA)-rich oil, to be used in infant formula and formula for older children.
Pro-breast feeding advocates and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are throwing their support behind mooted amendments to the European Union PARNUTS Directive they believe can improve the safety, quality and marketing transparency of infant formulas...
2012 will bring the greatest changes ever seen to European Union healthy foods and supplements marketing as the long-awaited 2000+-strong health claims register becomes law – but does a rejected health claim really matter?
Jarrow Rogovin, never a man to mince his words, says it is high time the IPA and other trade groups stepped up to the plate to defend a sector that has been under regulatory siege on both sides of the Atlantic for several years.
Bulgarian customs officers have confiscated 2kg of the controversial stimulant,1,3-dimethylamylamine (DMAA), at Sofia airport – believed to have been derived from Chinese sources.
Simply filling a soft drink bearing a trademarked brand name does not itself violate an EU directive regarding use of that sign, according to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) in a high-profile ruling involving Red Bull.
Yakult failed to present the most basic evidence and sought a too-complicated immunity claim in the controversially rejected immunity health claim for its probiotic drinks, a UK consultant has said.
The second part of this exclusive interview sees Beneo executive board member, Yves Servotte, explaining the cooling but not crushing effect of EU prebiotic health claim rejections on its inulin-chicory business.
Japanese probiotics giant Yakult says the writing into law of its rejected EU health claim for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) benefits won’t alter its core sell in European markets that remained, “stable”.
In the first part of this exclusive interview, Beneo Group executive board member, Yves Servotte, explains how European Union health claim rules have informed strategic thinking at one of Europe’s biggest and most vocal ingredient vendors.
How to demonstrate health benefits among healthy human beings? That is the challenge new European Union health claim laws have set contract research organisations (CROs) and others involved in trial design. A tough challenge yes, but not an insurmountable...
