Swedish probiotics player, Probi, is pursuing “unofficial” dialogue with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) after the scientific agency closed the formal process by rejecting its probiotic health claim appeal.
In a world with a chronic ‘globesity’ problem spreading beyond western shores to places like India and China, products that promise to help individuals manage their weight via calorie control, fat burning, satiety, or some other mechanism, enjoy rampant...
General cholesterol reducing health claims can be utilised on all food products including food supplements even if the authorised specific cholesterol percentage reduction cannot.
How usable are the health claims that have already been approved? First, companies need to see if there is any wiggle room around EFSA’s scientific language. Then, the thorny nutrient profiling is unclear. According to a food lawyer, if agreement can’t...
Progress has been painfully slow in the discussions over the new food information regulation, says food lawyer Owen Warnock of Eversheds, and many of the same big issues are unsolved after two years of debate.
A health claim, under Article 13.5, for a French fish oil-based dietary supplement Catalgine that it can help to reduce the frequency of hot flushes in middle aged women has been rejected by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The European Food safety Authority (EFSA) rejected a submission from a Dutch plant sterol supplements firm calling for the EU approved, cholesterol-lowering health claim to be expanded to food supplements and other food categories.
Models being utilised by European authorities to determine upper safe limits (USLs) for vitamin and minerals used in food supplements are flawed and should be subject to “proper scientific validation”, say the authors of a study published in Toxicology.
The current EC labelling legislation on complementary food such as processed cereal-based foods for infants are consistent with the recent European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) findings that complementary feeding at four months poses no risk to infants,...
Feedback from manufacturers is being sought on new standards being proposed for inclusion in the Food Chemcials Codex (FCC) which aim to ensure the quality and enhance the safety of key ingredients widely used in infant formulas.
Time is of the essence to ensure vitamins and minerals in food supplements across the EU bloc are set at levels that will not decimate national industries and restrict consumer choice, claims a UK supplements lobby group as it kick starts a fresh campaign.
The European Commission needs to let the European supplements industry know how the Food Supplements Directive (FSD) will be enforced across the 27-member bloc, as companies deal with existing stocks that contain now prohibited nutrients, a Czech trade...
Products containing nutrients that don’t appear on the EU Food Supplements Directive (FSD) positive lists are now officially illegal and can be stripped from store shelves after the derogation period expired on December 31, 2009.
Whether beauty foods and supplements fall under the EU health claims regulation is still a significant grey area, according to a new FSA consultation document.
The European Food Safety Authority, US Food and Drug Administration, and Health Canada will share a platform at an upcoming Cantox-hosted health claims conference.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has tweaked its EU nutrition and health claims guidance to take into account deadline changes and clarify how charities and national associations can endorse claims.
Ireland has become the latest country to issue a food safety alert over iodine-contaminated soya milk from Japan believed to have sickened 10 people in Australia.
Following global product recalls, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has warned the public off all herbal products offering to treat erectile dysfunction.
Belgian ingredients giant, the Beneo Group, says new European Union health rules favour ‘active’ health claims such as phytosterols, while discounting ‘passive’ claims such as those that replace ingredients with healthier versions to make products healthier.
A dossier containing 13 randomised controlled trials, 6 observational studies, and 15 non-human studies has failed to impress European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientists because the four strains in question were not sufficiently characterised.
The introduction of complementary food such as processed cereal-based foods into the diet of healthy term infants in the EU between the age of four and six months is safe and does not pose a risk for adverse health effects, claims the European Food Safety...
A negative opinion from EFSA on a health claim is not necessarily the end of the line for marketing the products benefits, and avenues to market the product are still available, says a UK-based lawyer.
DHA-related brain and eye health claims for infants have been backed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), after it issued advice this month at the request of the European Commission.
A local district court has ruled that Norwegian krill supplier, Aker Biomarine, misrepresented its European Union novel foods status at the Food Ingredients Europe (FIE) trade show in Frankfurt in mid-November.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
Europe's leading trade groups are set for a meeting with the European Commission to discuss their concerns over the health claims assessment, and EFSA's reluctance to engage in dialogue.
Industry representatives are urging soft enforcement of pending regulation that amends the EU Supplements Directive of 2002 and bans the sale of any vitamin and mineral not on a new approval list.
More than six months after receiving a positive health claim opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) linking its tomato extract to blood circulation benefits, UK biotech firm Provexis has been handed final claim wording by the European...
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
European Union health claims handed negative opinions by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) may be able to resubmit data under an article of the nutrition and health claims regulation, according to a European Commission official.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
Making claims based on non-conclusive but still substantial science is a "possible avenue" since denying a 'maybe' claim may challenge free speech rights, says a UK lawyer.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
US attorney Jonathan Emord draws parallels between his experiences in the US challenging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the current health claims situation in Europe on the basis of free speech.
Canadian global krill leader, Neptune Bioressources and Technologies, has confirmed it will appeal a decision taken by the European Patent Office (EPO) yesterday to revoke its krill patent.
The affirmation that the omega-3 DHA can benefit cognitive and eye health offers hope to previously rejected claims. And it's business as usual regarding the overall health claims process, despite ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, said a European...
The European/Asian arm of Canadian fatty acid specialist, Bioriginal, has gained a European Union novel foods approval for echium oil after demonstrating safety to European authorities.
Each day the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dithers in delivering its verdict on the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), its authority is diminished and its credibility wanes.
Dispatches from the NI Health Claims 2010 conference
Legal action to challenge the strict claims assessment process enshrined in the EU health claims Regulation could be pursued on the grounds of free speech, according to a leading US lawyer.
Aker BioMarine said it has won EU Novel Foods approval for its omega-3 ingredient Superba Krill Oil, enabling it to be sold in the 27 countries in the EU bloc.
As the 100 delegates filed away into the misty Brussels night, Stephen Daniells and Shane Starling took a moment to share their thoughts on the NutraIngredients Health Claims 2010 conference.
The Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) approval of PACran cranberry powder’s claim to support urinary health is a positive step in the direction towards achieving a European-wide health claim, according to the European marketer of the product.
Synadiet, the French Dietary and Food Supplements Manufacturers Association, said it is to begin a mainstream media campaign to counter the negative stories that followed the launch of a monitoring programme by a government agency.
Leatherhead Food Research chief executive, Dr Paul Berryman, tells Shane Starling that despite a swathe of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim rejections, the positive opinions that have come in offer much hope to industry.
For a fruit that has had more science conducted on it than most, it is surprising to some that France remains the only country to have approved a long-standing cranberry health claim.
The Irish Health Trade Association (IHTA) claims the scientific approach taken by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in its assessment of health claims for nutrients is seriously flawed.
India is developing guidelines that may mean probiotic strains will have to be backed by clinical trials conducted on Indian populations if they are to gain market approval.
The campaign to ensure higher potency food supplements can remain on the UK market is stepping up a gear with a motion tabled in the UK Parliament seeking the prime minister to intervene directly.
