Health Claims in the EU and their Scientific Substantiation

A new Regulation on nutrition and health claims came into force in 2007 with implementation during a three-year period and will harmonise this area within the European Community. It makes provision for health claims on foods, including reduction of disease risk claims, and thus recognises the importance of food and nutrition for health. Member states have provided suggestions for claims regarding "the role of a nutrient or other substance in growth, development and the functions of the body" (Article 13.1) by January 2008. The suggested claims are now considered by the Commission, in consultation with the European Food Safety Authority, and a list of approved claims will be compiled by January 2010. In addition to being scientifically underpinned, approved claims should be meaningful to European consumers to facilitate their choice of a healthy diet. Disease risk reduction claims and claims referring to children's development and health (Article 14) require specific and extensive applications and are handled on a case by case basis. Approved claims will be added to the Community list, and non-approved claims will be published as well. The EU concerted action project PASSCLAIM (Process for the Assessment of Scientific Support for Claims on Foods) developed a number of criteria for the scientific substantiation of claims. In addition to the scientific substantiation, use of both nutrition claims and health claims will require that food products fulfil certain nutrient profiles to be decided regarding content of nutrients such as fat, saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, sugars and salt/sodium. Before the Regulation, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have had voluntary Codes of Practice on health claims, which have provided useful experience in evaluating and handling certain health claims on foods.