Environment Committee at Europe's Parliament votes to delete
controversial article four on nutrient profiles and redraft article
11, in proposed rules for nutrition and health claims.
The Internal Market Committee (IMCO) yesterday voted to delete
various clauses of the nutrition and health claims regulation that
is currently under discussion by the European parliament.
Milk, cheese and dairy products could soon carry generic health
claims, providing they are approved by a panel of health and
nutrition experts, Tom Armitage reports.
Danish food and health authorities have launched a campaign to
promote the use of vitamin D supplements by the elderly and
dark-skinned immigrants, both groups prone to deficiency, writes
Dominique Patton.
A report recommending measures to reduce trans fat consumption in
France raises questions about the safety of conjugated linoleic
acid (CLA), currently being marketed for its weight loss benefits,
and also considered a trans fat...
The European Union's food supplement directive, set to enter into
force in August, infringes basic principles of European law and
should be rewritten, a senior judge said yesterday.
Use of herbal medicine in German and France is the most widespread
in Europe, according to a report published in the New England
Journal of Medicine yesterday.
Health claims about a product's effect on slimming or psychological
functions could be allowed under new European regulations via an
authorization procedure, according to one of the proposed
amendments to the draft law that looks...
Ireland could be one of the first European countries to introduce
mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid if members of the
public and other stakeholders back the initiative in a new
consultation process, reports Dominique...
Manufacturers of sports nutrition products will have to clean up or
face the consequences of increased scrutiny from Europe, which this
week called for further action against doping.
Fish oil supplements and foods fortified with marine-source omega-3
fats on the UK market have gained the scientific go-ahead to
promote the heart health benefits of their products.
German firm Finzelberg is the first plant extracts producer to gain
GMP certification under new European rules for active agents in
pharmaceuticals, it said this week.
Plans to encourage Britons to eat healthier foods, published by the
UK government last week, mark a paradigm shift in the public policy
approach to health, believes a food industry consultant.
Russia's consumer protection agency has refused to extend the
production licences for a number of energy drink brands produced by
the Czech firm Pinelli on the grounds that they could be harmful to
consumers' health, reports...
An amendment to the nutrition and health claims regulation
currently being discussed by members of the European parliament
could give Britain an opt-out clause to the food supplements
directive being enforced across the EU from August...
Herbal medicines on the Australian market may need to be
reformulated after the government's decision this week to back a
wave of expert recommendations to tighten scrutiny of the
complementary medicines sector.
Canadian biotech firm Forbes Medi-Tech said this week that it has
gained European approval to market its cholesterol-lowering
ingredient Reducol in seven new food applications.
The hundreds of amendments tabled by MEPs on the EU health claims
regulation shows that consensus is still a long way off but
companies should do more to influence the final outcome, says a
food industry consultancy.
Fourteen mineral sources not included on the EU food supplement
directive's original list of permitted ingredients will be allowed
to stay on the market until they are reviewed by European
officials, reducing some of the uncertainty...
Leading supplements distributor Herbalife said yesterday that it
had stopped selling one of its products in Israel after an
investigation by health officials over complaints that it caused
liver problems.
The kava industry will get a chance to enter the UK market again if
it can produce new evidence supporting the herbal's safety before
the end of April.
The European food industry could see a unified version of labels on
foodstuffs, and accompanying cost-savings, as Europe's executive
arm calls for standardised labels across the EU, writes Lindsey
Partos.
UK trade associations were upbeat yesterday after presenting their
arguments for a rewrite of the European foods supplements directive
at the European court in Luxembourg.
A group of noni juice producers from the Pacific islands has become
the first trade association to gain novel foods approval for their
products to be sold in the EU.
The first attempt in Europe to set maximum safe levels for
nutrients in supplements and fortified foods demonstrates that
numerous products could be considered unsafe if the same approach
is adopted across the European community.
There is insufficient evidence on the association between bone
health and vitamin A intake to justify a change in dietary advice
to consumers, concludes a draft report by experts in the UK.
The UK's medicines regulator is setting up a new herbal medicines
advisory committee to provide it with expert advice on herbal
medicines in anticipation of the forthcomin European traditional
medicinal herbal products directive.
The exaggerated - and not always correct - advertisement of
biologically active additives (BAAs) in food supplements has
resulted in a number of products being removed by the Russian
authorities, writes Angela Drujinina.
Unilever's cholesterol-lowering Becel Pro.activ milk drink has
become the fifth product to earn a product-specific health claim
under Sweden's health claims system.
The UK's supplement industry is preparing its case against the
European food supplement directive, to be heard by the European
Court of Justice next month.
The controversial issue of nutritional profiles will remain one of
the biggest hurdles for EU legislation on health claims but recent
reports suggest that Germany may be ready to concede some elements
of profiling, reports Dominique...
The Netherlands has been told that it must allow the marketing of
foods with added vitamins and minerals without requiring
manufacturers to prove that there is a 'nutritional' need for such
products.
Patients taking the blood-thinning drug warfarin should avoid all
cranberry-based products, according to new advice from the UK's
Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM), after it reviewed evidence
of several interactions.
The use of labels to 'signpost' healthy foods is getting strong
support from the UK, as it steps up its public health campaign
against obesity and related disease.
Manufacturers of oat-based products in the UK can now position them
alongside cholesterol-lowering foods, following the approval of a
health claim by the country's voluntary claims body.
Almost half of the products sold in a survey of Finnish gyms did
not comply with food regulations, with many containing levels of
nutrients not correctly labelled, reports the country's food
agency.
The British government is expected to release a long-awaited policy
paper on public health today with plans to curb public smoking,
tackle obesity and address the way food companies target children
through advertising.
Coca-Cola Services S.A. has applied to the UK's novel foods
committee seeking approval to market fruit juices, fruit nectars
and tomato juice with added plant sterols.
The supplement industry agreed yesterday in Bonn, Germany that new
global guidelines - including changes to the way maximum levels of
nutrients in supplements are calculated - will go forward to be
ratified by the Codex Alimentarius...
Australia looks set to widen the definition of 'wholegrain' to
allow more foods to include this term, increasingly associated with
heart health, on their product labelling.
Finland has introduced the EU's new labelling requirements for food
containing plant sterols and stanols this week, which could produce
innovative products.