EFSA Press Release: Opinions on ’health claims of general function’ released

The opinions provide scientific advice on 523 health claims relating to over 200 foods and food components such as vitamins and minerals, fibre, fats, carbohydrates, ‘probiotic’ bacteria, and botanical substances. For approximately one third of the claims the outcomes of the evaluations were favourable as there was sufficient scientific evidence to support the claims. These related mainly to functions of vitamins and minerals, and also included dietary fibres, and fatty acids for maintenance of cholesterol levels, and sugar-free chewing gum for maintenance of dental health. Almost half of the evaluations with unfavourable outcomes were owing to a lack of information on the substance on which the claim is based, for example ‘probiotic’ bacteria and botanical substances. Without clear identification of the substance in question, the Panel could not verify that the scientific evidence provided to EFSA related to the same substance for which the health benefits are claimed.

Commenting on these first results, Professor Albert Flynn, Chair of EFSA’s NDA Panel stated: “EFSA’s independent scientific advice will help ensure that the health claims made on foods are accurate and helpful to consumers in making healthy diet choices. The scientific opinions will inform future decisions of the Commission and Member States concerning the authorisation of health claims”.

EFSA has convened a meeting with experts from Member States and the European Commission on 6 October 2009 in Brussels to discuss the evaluation of the ‘general function’ claims. A briefing document prepared for discussion at the meeting explains EFSA’s approach to the evaluation of these claims.

Between July and December 2008 EFSA received from the European Commission a draft list with 4,185 claims to be evaluated. This list was the result of a consolidation process carried out by the Commission, after examining over 44,000 claims supplied by the Member States. The Panel is proceeding with the adoption and publication of scientific opinions on the outstanding claims on the list. EFSA is liaising with the European Commission in order to define a more precise timetable for completion of the work taking into account possible additional claims to be evaluated.

EPHA Comment

What are nutrition and health claims, and why do they matter?

 A nutritional claim according to the Codex guidelines is any representation which states/suggests/implies that a food has particular nutritional properties including/not limited to its calorific value & traditional nutrients eg protein, carbohydrates, fat, fibre etc. (The draft EU proposal under consideration in this paper will extend this definition to include ’other substances’ eg antioxidants, probiotic bacteria etc).

 A health claim is defined by the European Heart Network (EHN) as ‘a message that draws attention to the possible health benefits of a given food product’.

Nutritional and health claims matter because there is sufficient evidence to conclude that they do affect consumer-purchasing decisions; therefore misleading information could in fact be damaging to peoples’ health. For example a consumer buying a product which is 90% fat free could reasonably assume that they are buying a low fat product, when in fact they are not. Increased consumption of such products could conversely increase fat intake.

Given the importance of good nutrition to our health, and the consequent necessity of having clear and accurate information to enable appropriate choices, EPHA feels that the entire nutrient profile of a food product is important. To that end we believe that unless the profile of the entire product is screened no nutritional or health claim should be permitted.

For more information

DG SANCO

EFSA

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