Luxembourg, 03/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - There is to be an end to fantastical commercial claims propounding nutritional properties or health benefits of foods at the risk of leading consumers to make mistakes with potential implications for health or the balance of their diet. The Health and Consumer Ministers meeting on Friday in Luxembourg were unanimous in their recognition of this issue and demonstrated it by adopting a much more ambitious position than the European Parliament did in first reading (EUROPE 8958). Their political agreement on the proposed regulation aims to lay down a strict framework of common rules on nutritional and health claims in the labelling, advertising or presentation of food, a testament to their determination to provide consumers with reliable, precise and scientifically proven information which takes account of the entire composition of foodstuffs. The text, approved unanimously by the Council, maintains article 4 of the proposed regulation regarding the nutritional profile of foods - a concept which was the cornerstone of the future legislation for the Commission but was deleted by the Parliament. Like the Commission, the Council deemed it absolutely necessary to ensure scientifically that foods do not contain too much salt, fat or sugar when attracting consumers using other virtues, such as a fatty and sugary chocolate containing vitamin C. The text also maintains the prior authorisation procedure for health claims, apart from a few small exceptions. This is a second repudiation for the Parliament, which had changed this authorisation procedure into a simple notification procedure. The text completely and simply prohibits claims that consuming a foodstuff reduces risks of disease, that not eating that foodstuff has an effect on health, or that consumption of the foodstuff can lead to quantified weight loss.
“You see before you a very satisfied President”, declared Mars Di Bartolomeo, Luxembourg Health Minister to the press. “Only the nutritional and health claims which conform to the regulation will have the right to be applied to products. At a time when the EU is being accused of not being close enough to its citizens, this unanimous decision is very important, because it helps make progress in a Europe of health and consumers”, he said. Commissioner Markos Kyprianou welcomed the agreement on a text which “guarantees citizens clear, honest and reliable information, and fair competition for companies whose products have real nutritional and health advantages”. In his view, “the unanimity shows that despite different cultural approaches and food traditions, the Member States have a common concern for protecting consumers”. In front of her colleagues, the German Green minister Renate Künast showed wide divergence from the line followed by the majority of German MEPs, deeming the compromise “balanced”.
In an annex, the regulation gives a list and definitions of the authorised nutritional claims, giving, for example, scientific descriptions of what is meant by “reduced calorie”, “calorie-free”, “low in fat”, “fat-free”, “low in saturated fatty acids”, “low sugar”, sugar-free”, “no added sugar”, “light”, “natural”, and so on. In concrete terms, according to the text, a foodstuff labelled “sugar-free” is not a foodstuff which contains no sugar at all, but rather containing no more than 0.5 grams per 100 grams or 100 ml.
The concept of nutritional profile will be drawn up by the Commission in the twenty-four months following the entry into force of the regulation on the basis of an opinion given by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) within twelve months and after consultation with operators in the agriculture-food sector and consumer protection organisations.
To accommodate the UK, which is currently examining a national consumer information system based on a symbol on food packaging which would allow consumers to immediately identify foods which are too fatty, salty or sugary (red light, amber light, green light), the text states specifically that the regulation will be applicable to nutritional claims of being beneficial. But to satisfy those countries (mainly Italy, Spain, Greece and, to a lesser extent, Sweden) who feared hidden barriers to trade, the Commission gives guarantees, pointing out in a declaration that the standards and technical specifications referring to claims - positive or negative - should be notified to it (and to the Member States) under directive 98/34/EC and that it will ensure that they do not constitute barriers to free trade.