The European Commission is no closer to finalising a nutrient profiling criteria that will govern which foods and beverages can make health and nutrition claims, according to a Commission official contacted by NutraIngredients.com this morning.
Food giant Heinz’s Italian subsidiary, Plada Industriale, has had an infant gut health claim rebuffed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which founds its dossier wanting.
DSM’s human nutrition corporate scientist, Wim Saris, spoke with Shane Starling recently after chairing a weight management and satiety conference in Amsterdam. He voiced his concern about spiralling health claim costs muzzling innovation.
The European Union nutrition and health claims process will not meet its January, 2010, deadline as there are simply too many to process by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the bloc’s executive arms, according to Brussels-based consultancy,...
Stakeholders in the botanicals industry have again highlighted their concerns regarding the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) approach to health claims regulation in a meeting with the authority last week.
The Kerry Group’s director of sciences, clinical trials and statistics, Wim Calame, discusses the state-of-play in weight management science and health claims with Shane Starling at the 2009 satiety and weight management conference in Amsterdam.
The influential UK-based consumer welfare advocate, Which?, has poured scorn on some functional foods, despite the fact 59 per cent of its highly sceptical members buy omega-3, probiotic and other functional foods.
The first batch of EFSA health claim opinions moved closer to being written into the European Union legislature, after being processed by a European Commission committee this month.
Double encapsulation of bacterial strains with potential probiotic activity may enhance the shelf-life and offer protection against harsh stomach conditions, says a new study.
Probiotics pioneer Yakult says preliminary research indicates the interrelationship of the nervous systems of the gut and the brain could confer cognitive benefits when probiotics are consumed.
An article 14 disease risk reduction health claim linking mineral water consumption and a reduction of glycaemia has drawn a negative opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The need for more and better science backing health claims was the central theme at a weight management and satiety seminar held in Amsterdam this week, as well as growing trepidation about health claims in Europe.
A health claim negative opinion issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is being challenged by the company that submitted it on the grounds its wording was changed without its knowledge or consent.
One of the world’s leading probiotics specialists says consumers are interested in probiotic cheese products but cheese manufacturers and probiotic suppliers need to get their scientific house in order and clarify their marketing messages.
An ambitious article 14 health claim dossier submitted by Italian-based Soremartec Italia S.r.l. Gruppo Ferrero that sought to link chocolate consumption and growth in children has drawn a negative opinion from the European Food Safety Authority.
“A year of stark contrasts” as DSM board chairman, Feike Sijbesma called it, has seen DSM turn a near €1bn profit but left the Dutch ingredients giant unable to make a forecast for this year as the economic crisis sets in.
Daily supplements of the probiotic bacterial strain Lactobaccilus casei rhamnosus may boost the immune health of children, and prevents many infections, says new research.
Probiotics have had a rapid rise to public prominence in North America since Danone launched probiotic drinkable and spoonable yogurts on the US market in 2005, but probiotic cheeses have won little favor, according to Euromonitor research.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a negative opinion to global cranberry leader Ocean Spray for an article 14 health claim relating consumption of cranberry and urinary tract infection (UTI) in women.
Swedish probiotics specialist, BioGaia, has turned in an impressive set of financial results for 2008, maintaining the 30 per cent-plus growth it has achieved annually for the best part of this decade.
Raisio, the Finnish plant stanol and raw ingredients supplier and maker of the Benecol cholesterol-lowering consumer brand, more than doubled profits and increased turnover by 20 per cent in 2008, but its forecasts are humble in the face of the harsh...
The European Union health and nutrition claims regulation deadline of January, 2010, is coming under increasing pressure as European risk assessors and risk managers lurch under the sheer weight of processing more than 4000 generic article 13 claims.
An ever tighter focus on the ability of gut microflora to affect metabolism and control weight is the result of a new agreement signed between Nestlé’s northern France-based Research Centre and Imperial College London.
Dutch scientists have reported that the potential immune system enhancing effects of probiotics may be due to an activation of specific genes in the walls of our intestines.
Unilever has teamed up with Finnish dairy and ingredients supplier, Valio, to launch a probiotic spread in Germany and Sweden with “strengthening natural defences” as the central selling point.
A major European trade group has chimed in with criticism of the latest version of the European Union health and nutrition claims article 13 list, adding to industry concern that claims are being removed or modified without clear explanation from authorities.
The European heart health ingredients market is set for buoyant growth despite a climate of regulatory uncertainty, according to market research conducted by Frost & Sullivan, which valued the market at €421m in 2007 and growing at 20 per cent.
Danish ingredients giant Chr Hansen has purchased Urex Biotech, a Canadian company it has long worked with to bring probiotic supplements to a market demonstrating growth rates of more than 10 per cent internationally.
The European Responsible Nutrition Alliance (ERNA) has criticised the recently updated 4000+, article 13 health and nutrition claim list for containing re-worded claims or omitting them completely.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has affirmed the importance of calcium and vitamin D for bone health by approving an article 14 children’s health claim submitted under the EU health and nutrition regulation by Danone’s Spanish arm.
Consumption of a combination probiotic and prebiotic supplement for two weeks was found to improve the gut and immune health of a group of seniors, according to a study conducted by Danisco.
The European Food Safety Authority has turned down Unilever-submitted health claims linking black tea consumption and improved mental focus because they failed to demonstrate causality.
EFSA has published the list of functional health claims it has received from the Commission to be assessed under article 13 of the new health claims regulation; while the publication has been cautiously welcomed by industry, doubts remain about meeting...
Identifying the bacteria in a food product – be they probiotic or pathogenic – may be as easy as reading a bar-code, according to a novel technique called optical mapping.
A pilot study from Russia and the US indicates that supplements of Bifidobacterium bifidum and Lactobacillus plantarum 8PA3 may improve the health of an alcoholic’s liver.
The probiotic strains Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis HN019 are safe and well-tolerated, according to a new study from New Zealand.
Scientists have found a proprietary probiotic strain, BLIS K12, can deliver immunity and respiratory benefits that go beyond previously investigated oral health potential.
Canada-based scientists report the successful incorporation of Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1, potentially offering a new probiotic product.
One of the most fiercely debated and amended pieces of European Union food law history is playing out before our eyes, and its effects are beginning to be felt.
Finnish group Raisio has won a hard-to-come-by approval for its Benecol cholesterol lowering plant stanol ester ingredients in China, as it continues its push to develop new markets.
A drinking straw innovator, a leading probiotics supplier and the world’s biggest aseptic beverage packager have teamed up to deliver a probiotic drink that has attracted the interest of the world’s biggest beverage companies. Shane Starling met with...
In response to a recent BMJ editorial claiming that only drugs are effective for weight loss, members of the global food and supplements industries have defended the efficacy of their products, calling the article the “latest misinformed campaign”.
Finnish dairy and ingredients supplier, Valio, will submit data it believes may alter the negative opinion for a probiotic-related, gastro-intestinal health claim delivered by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently.
Canadian probiotics supplier, Lallemand, has responded to the growing wealth and interest in healthy foods in China by formalising an existing probiotics-based partnership with a Chinese nutrition company.
Chr Hansen has launched two new probiotic cultures which it says allow manufacturers of low-fat yoghurt to add the healthy bacteria to their products while also maintaining a thick, creamy texture.
