EU opens discussion on nutritional and functional claims
of the European Commission issued a discussion paper this week
which aims to present...
The Directorate General Health and Consumer Protection (SANCO D4) of the European Commission issued a discussion paper this week which aims to present the main issues surrounding the harmonisation of rules for claims made about the nutritional and functional properties of foods in a neutral and objective manner. The Commission states that rules concerning classification and conditions for use of nutrition claims and functional claims have "a very high priority". In its White Paper on Food Safety (Paragraph 101, Action no. 65), the Commission proposed consideration on whether to introduce specific provisions to govern "nutrition claims" and "functional claims", in order to reach the "twin objective of achieving both the free movement of foodstuffs between Member States and a high level of consumer protection. One of the main obstacles encountered when talking about claims is "the lack of common understanding of the terminology used". The Commission stresses that it is essential to reach a common agreement on a variety of different definitions. The first at the table is the generic term "claim". The Commission proposes that the "claim" definition provided by the Codex Alimentarius, broader than the EU definition on nutrition claims, serves as a starting point for discussions. In the General Guidelines on Claims (CAL/GL 1-1979 (Rev.1 1-1991)) Codex defines it as "Any representation which states, suggests or implies that a food has particular characteristicss relating to its origin, nutritional properties, nature, production, processing, composition, or any other quality." The discussion paper proposed by the SAMCO D4 does not cover health claims which are described as "disease risk reduction claims". The deadline for comments on the paper is 20 July 2001. Source: European Commission
