Brussels, 28/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - It was a case of mission accomplished for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as it published its sixth and final set of scientific opinions on functional and generic health claims on food products for substances other than plants (see EUROPE 10410). This latest set contains five opinions, relates to 35 health claims and takes to 2,760 the number of health claims duly assessed on the basis of information submitted by manufacturers to back up the claims. The European Commission immediately expressed its pleasure as it will now be able to establish the list of 510 health claims scientifically validated by EFSA under the terms of Regulation 1924/2006 as amended by Regulation 109/2008/EC, Article 13. It will present this list before the end of the year. To this end, the Commission will prepare a draft regulation which will be debated with the member states with a view to adoption in 2012.
“Ensuring accurate and reliable information on food labels is key to help consumers make healthier choices and strengthen their empowerment. Now our priority is to adopt, as soon as possible, the list of permitted Article 13 claims”, said Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli in a press release.
“Informal discussions with the member states have already begun. We are now entering a more political phase”, the commissioner's spokesman Frédéric Vincent told press. Once the regulation has been adopted, the health claims authorised in the EU - the list of which will be appended to the regulation - will be able to be perfectly legally used by producers and traders wishing to print them on food labels to extol the virtues for consumers' health of substances used in the products.
Claims which have not been scientifically validated by EFSA will be put in an internet database, and the agrifood industry will have six months to remove them from product labelling, Vincent said.
The scientific evaluation exercise just completed by EFSA is part of a major effort to bring an end to false claims that could mislead consumers.
EFSA, however, still has much work to do: it still has to evaluate some 1,550 health claims for “botanicals”, more complex to analyse. It was decided in September 2010 that these “botanicals” should be evaluated separately, after the other health claims. (A.N./transl.rt)