EU Ramps Up Regulation of Functional Food Health Claims
The European Commission (EC) has reportedly entered the second phase of a crackdown on functional food health claims advertising a product’s purported health benefits. EC regulations currently require the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to draw up a “positive list” of permitted health claims by 2010, but the commission is now discussing further restrictions on functional foods that also contain high levels of sugar, saturated fat or salt. According to EFSA, the agency has received “4,185 main health claim entries” that each comprise “a food component, a health relationship and an example of wording.” This review process “takes into account the conditions of use and references available for around 10,000 similar health claims.”
Meanwhile, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has asked the commission to restrict advertising for products with more than 15 percent sugar content, although the final threshold appears likely to fall between 20-25 percent sugar content. Several media reports have focused on the impact that these thresholds would have on cereal advertising, noting that many manufacturers would need to withdraw their health claims even under the EC’s more generous definition of “high sugar.” “Cereal manufacturers make a variety of claims,” stated FSA Deputy Head of Nutrition Corinne Vaughan. “Some are genuine, but other foods are heavily promoted on the basis of health claims for one ingredient, while the unhealthy levels of sugar, fat and salt hardly get a mention.” See The London Times and The Telegraph, August 23, 2009; Daily Mail, August 24, 2009.
