References to the general, non-specific beneficial effects of a nutrient or food on the general state of health and health-related well-being must be justified by scientific evidence, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said in a ruling handed down on Thursday 30 January (Case C-524/18).
Willmar Schwabe requested that Queisser Pharma be prohibited, upon penalty, from promoting or having promoted, in the course of commercial activities, one of its food supplements with the claim “for the brain, nerves, concentration and memory” on the front of the packaging.
The reason for this request was that, according to Willmar Schwabe, these indications constitute a violation of certain articles of the European regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods (1924/2006), in particular Article 6, which states that "nutrition and health claims shall be based on and substantiated by generally accepted scientific data".
Nevertheless, the back of the Queisser Pharma food supplement package contained more detailed information about the contents of the supplement as well as information about the effects of its ingredients.
In its judgment, the CJEU first recalled that any reference to the general, non-specific beneficial effects of a nutrient or food on health must be justified by scientific evidence and accompanied by a specific health claim.
The Court agreed with Willmar Schwabe and finally held that the requirement is not satisfied where the packaging shows, on its front, a reference to the general, non-specific beneficial effects of a nutrient or food on health, whereas the specific health claim intended to accompany it appears only on the back and there is no explicit link, such as an asterisk, between the two.
See the judgment of the Court: http://bit.ly/31ajvv7 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)