The new EU regulation on nutrition and health claims: comments related to experiences from the Swedish Code of Practice

Susanne Bryngelsson,Nils-Georg Asp

doi:10.3402/fnr.v51i1.1608

Abstract

The new European Union (EU) regulation on nutrition and health claims came into force on 19 January2007. This means that the same rules for use of such claims in advertisements, labelling and presentation offoods, including food supplements, will now be implemented throughout the EU. Some countries have hadCodes of Practices allowing certain health claims. Experiences from such Codes, such as in Sweden since1990, will be useful in implementing the new regulation. When used in a responsible way according to theregulation, health claims may be important in driving product development and assisting consumers inmaking healthy choices. Citation: Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition 2007; 51 (1): 41-43

Highlights

The new regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims made on foods (EC no. 1924/ 2006 by 20 December 2006) came into force on 19 January 2007, to be implemented by 1 July 2007 (1)
Article 14 claims All claims related to reduction of disease risk and referring to children’s development and health require an application to the national competent authorities (CAs) for evaluation by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and final decision by the Commission after a specific committee procedure (Articles 15Á17, 19)
The Swedish Code makes explicit differentiation between ‘‘generic’’ and ‘‘product-specific’’ claims. The former type of claims can be used by all products fulfilling the compositional criteria, whereas intervention studies with the products and premarketing evaluation of these studies are required for product-specific claims

Summary

Introduction

The new regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims made on foods (EC no. 1924/ 2006 by 20 December 2006) came into force on 19 January 2007, to be implemented by 1 July 2007 (1). The new regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims made on foods Community register of allowed claims The European Commission will establish a Community Register for all health claims for which an application has been submitted (Article 20).

Results

Conclusion