US attorney Jonathan Emord draws parallels between his experiences in the US challenging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the current health claims situation in Europe on the basis of free speech.
Biomarkers to measure the state of our health may hold the key to establishing the benefits of a dietary compound or ingredient, but more efforts are needed to produce a list of biomarkers with a validated end point, says a key industry figure.
Ka-CHING! Hear that? No it’s not the sound of overflowing cash registers as consumers throw endless wads of euros at scientifically-backed, healthy foods in greater numbers than ever before.
October 1 was not a good day for many in the functional foods and food supplements business in the European Union as the meaning of life under a highly restrictive health claims regime came more into focus.
Manufacturers of functional foods and supplements risk losing time, money and brand integrity if they don’t get their marketing story straight. Frost & Sullivan takes a look at the dangers of crossing into the realm of drugs as part of a NutraIngredients...
The Canadian government is preparing proposals to allow the use of health claims on food labels that would highlight the heart health benefits of certain compounds.
The FDA is being sued for the third time in three weeks, this time over its “censorship” of 13 antioxidant qualified health claims, which the attorney mounting the case says amounts to “contempt of federal court orders” dating from 1999.
A court action has been lodged today which challenges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) qualified health claims system via five disputed selenium health claims.
A new report that calls for fewer restrictions on the use of health claims in Canada has been criticized as being “superficial” and not grasping the intricacies of the Canadian and US food legislative frameworks.
Not again! As if industry is not struggling enough with the severity of the European Food Safety Authority’s nutrition and health claims rulings so far, the situation has not been helped by the kind of articles that appeared in the UK press today and...
The Singapore Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) has approved five nutrient and product-specific health claims that can now bear a ‘Healthier Choice’ symbol.
How will the new health claims system in Europe impact the state of play in the North American market? Lorraine Heller speaks to a leading international ingredients supplier about the potential marketing and regulatory implications.
Functional foods in the US are not legally defined as a distinct category, which has generated a confusing regulatory framework. In this article, NutraIngredients-USA.com provides a break-down of the health claims that can be used on the products.
Health claims appearing on food and beverage products may not influence consumer purchasing behavior as much as price and taste, suggests a new review.
One of the most fiercely debated and amended pieces of European Union food law history is playing out before our eyes, and its effects are beginning to be felt.
In the second part of a series on gut health, NutraIngredients examines the way products in this category are regulated – and what types of health claims they can make.
Europe’s health claim assessment process kicked off with the rejection of almost 90 per cent of the first bunch. But industry must accept its shortcomings if credibility is to be the winner.
The European Commission has culled its gargantuan nutrition
and health claims list from more than 40,000 to 1500 as the
health claims process moves closer to fruition in January, 2010.
Swiss-based CreaNutrition is demonstrating the value of approved
health claims by inking a deal with Kraft on the back of recently
approved oat-based cholesterol-lowering claims in the Netherlands.
Italians and women are the most interested western Europeans
in digestive health claims while Dutch are the least, according to
new consumer research funded by French fibre specialist Syral.
A recent conference on probiotics provided an overview of the global regulatory status of the bacteria, as well as the health claims that can be associated with these on different markets. In the first article in a series, NutraIngredients-USA.com examines...
In the third article in a series on health claims,
NutraIngredients-USA.com examines what the US Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) looks for when it assesses products for accurate
marketing.
In the first in a series of articles on the potential and dangers of health claims, NutraIngredients-USA.com examines the different types of claims that can be used on food, beverage and dietary supplement products in the US.
Four Capitol Hill parliamentarians are calling on the FDA to
abandon funding for conventional food qualified health claims
such as those relating to eggs and nuts.
A $20m Californian mushroom supplements specialist could face legal
action for falsely stating it had received European approval for a
number of health claims.
The new nutrition and health claims legislation could prove
challenging for marketers of probiotic products due to the
different effects of different strains of bacteria, says a
nutrition scientist.
A Canadian industry association has singled out functional foods as
a potentional savior of the country's manufacturing sector.
However, it insists Canada will miss out on this unless its heavy
regulatory environment is loosened.
In today's competitive food industry, healthy products mean healthy
sales but the scramble to keep up with the obesity backlash can
have dangerous repercussions.
Consumers actively seek out products with specific health claims on
their labels, according to the Natural Marketing Institute - a
factor that may encourage companies to solicit approvals from FDA
or cater to specialist diets.
Consumers fail to distinguish between different levels of health
claims permitted on foods, reducing the impact of all claims, say
researchers at the Federal Trade Commission.
The wording of health claims - both full and qualified - confuses
consumers and discourages marketers from using them, the NNFA has
said in comments submitted to the FDA.
The genome sequencing of the NCFM probiotic strain has given
Danisco's research effort a lift. It may help identify new health
benefits, and help reduce the time for bringing new products to
market.
The FDA is unconvinced that cherries pack as much of a health punch
as some marketers of cherry-based products are claiming. It has
issued warning letters to 29 companies, telling them to stop making
disease prevention or treatment...
Companies may spend thousands of dollars putting together a health
claims petition, but in the past year their efforts to make public
links between certain ingredients and health benefits have been
held up by delays in the FDA's...
The FDA has requested an extension in its review of yet another
health claims petition, for Nutrition 21's submission linking
chromium picolinate with a reduced risk of insulin resistance, type
2 diabetes and related disease,...
Sweden's BioGaia says its recent clinical trials are supporting
stronger health claims on products containing its Reuteri bacteria,
which may help it distinguish its probiotics from the competition,
writes Dominique Patton.
European legislation on health claims could take a significant leap
forward under the new Dutch presidency of the European Union, which
appears to be aiming for the regulation to get its first reading in
the European parliament by...
A group of cereal scientists is looking to rewrite the definition
of a wholegrain to help consumers identify the healthy ingredient
in foods and lift their intake of wholegrains.
The National Food Processors Association (NFPA) has urged the FDA
to introduce a clear framework on qualified health claims to ensure
that food makers making claims properly benefit from the system.
Consumer groups Public Citizen and the Center for Science in the
Public Interest (CSPI) are suing the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), over its introduction in July of health
claims qualified by disclaimers.
Pragmatism with a hint of cynicism permeates the British Nutrition
Foundation's analysis of the European Commission's proposal for a
regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods. The group
has voiced very real...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has unveiled a new ranking
system for health claims, which will make it easier for companies
to promote the health benefits of their products.
British retailer the Co-op is calling for the UK government to
crack down on products which make misleading health claims. The
company is to launch a new consumer-friendly food label following
research on consumer needs.
The Joint Health Claims Initiative (JHCI), an independent UK
organisation created to assess health claims on food, this week
advised the food industry of the option of making health claims for
the inclusion of soya in food products.
Parents are concerned about misleading health claims made for foods
targeted at children, according to research commissioned by the UK
Food Standards Agency.