Summary of ‘GLP-1 friendly’ claims regulation
- GLP-1 drug use reshapes food demand towards smaller nutrient-dense portions
- EU treats GLP-1 friendly as health or disease claims
- No EU approval exists and approval is widely seen unlikely
- UK labelling law restricts references to preventing, treating or curing a human disease, although whether ‘GLP-1 friendly’ claims contravene this is untested in courts
- Claims must avoid misleading effects especially for simple smaller portions
The use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs is predicted by many to transform the food landscape, changing eating habits for their users fundamentally.
Users of the weight-loss drugs want smaller and more nutrient-dense portions, providing them the ingredients they need in the formats they desire. The food industry is already scrambling to fulfil the needs of these consumers.
But can products actually claim to be ‘GLP-1 friendly’? How are such claims regulated?
‘GLP-1 friendly’: How is it regulated in the EU?
In the EU, any claim that a product is ‘GLP-1 friendly’ is considered either a disease-related or a health-related claim, explains Christopher Eggers, partner at law firm Squire Patton Boggs.
Disease-related claims cannot be used for either food or food supplements.
In the case of health-related claims, things are less clear-cut. Health-related claims can only be used if approved by the EU. Currently, no application to use the phrase ‘GLP-1 friendly’ has been filed.
Eggers is sceptical that such a claim could be approved. “Looking at the decisions the European Food Safety Authority and the EU-Commission have taken so far, it is more than unlikely that any such claim will ever be approved for food or food supplements.“
In essence, a ‘GLP-1 friendly’ claim, if it were to be approved, would be approved as a health claim. This has not yet happened.
Can ‘GLP-1 friendly’ be used in the UK?
In the UK, food labelling comes under certain restrictions. Legally, “food information shall not attribute to any food the property of preventing, treating or curing a human disease, nor refer to such properties, unless it is an approved nutrition or health claim”.
It is potentially arguable that a ‘GLP-1 friendly’ claim could contravene this requirement, says Nicola Smith, partner at Squire Patton Boggs. However, it is unclear whether this would be the case, and it has not yet been tested in the courts.
There are also restrictions when it comes to advertising. Under UK law, prescription-only medications or prescription-only medical treatments must not be advertised to the public.
Rulings given by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have made clear that advertising weight-loss drugs themselves is banned, as are claims and images indirectly advertising weight-loss drugs. The advertising watchdog has explicitly stated that claims containing the term ‘GLP-1′ are not allowed.
In spite of this, a range of UK supermarkets have used the term in advertising.
To date, points out Smith, the ASA has made no reference to the advertising of ‘GLP-1 friendly’ foods, and tends to focus on medications themselves, such as Ozempic. It does not explicitly prohibit ‘GLP-1 friendly’ advertising.
Additionally, information around food is also legally required to be accurate, clear and easy to understand. It should not be misleading.
“Therefore, claims that products are ‘GLP-1 friendly’ must not attribute to the food effects or properties which it does not possess or suggest that the food possesses special characteristics when in fact all similar foods possess such characteristics”, says Smith.
This is particularly important, she suggests, in the case of ‘GLP-1 friendly’ products, in the instances where these products are simply smaller portions of ordinary foods.
There is nothing expressly prohibiting brands making ‘GLP-1 friendly’ claims in the UK, although some regulation could make these claims more difficult in future.
Overall, the regulatory landscape for ‘GLP-1 friendly’ claims on food products is still shifting. The market for such products is new, and by extension, so are the claims.
