FUNCTIONAL CLAIMS: ANTIOXIDANTS AND CLAIMS

Abstract

Health claims that characterize the relationship between a substance (e.g., a food or food component) and a disease (e.g., cancer or cardiovascular disease) or health-related condition (e.g., hypertension) require premarket approval by organizations as the Turkey Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ministry, Europena Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Codex Alimentarius Commision (CAC) to be included on the labels of conventional foods and dietary supplements. Before 1990, health claims about disease were not allowed on food labels. However, in the late 1980s, emerging evidence about relationships between diet and health generated interest among consumers and the food industry about conveying this information on the food label. Qualified health claims are based on less scientific evidence than authorized health claims and must be accompanied by a disclaimer or otherwise qualified in their wording. Qualified health claims were first issued for the labeling of dietary supplements after several court decisions regarding First Amendment issues and were later expanded to conventional foods as the result of a major FDA initiative in 2003. In this study, health claims used for fruit and vegetable juices depend on national and international regulations, importance of health claims for the fruit juice industry and consumer responses to health claims in fruit juice products were surveyed.