Health claims rules 'too strict'
Scientists may be applying too-strict criteria for the substantiation of food health claims that will disadvantage small businesses, the European Botanical Forum (EBF) has said.
The EBF has expressed concern that food health claims may be assessed in the same way as claims about the reduction of disease risk. The European Union's Article 13 health claims rules, which are based on generally-accepted scientific evidence, state that food health claims should undergo a different type of assessment and authorisation to claims relating to reduction of disease risk (Article 14 claims).
But Patrick Coppens, secretary general of the EBF, said that according to the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) guidance document, EFSA may be intending to apply an approach based on the Passclaim project which might require substantial and expensive studies in humans, and would therefore hit small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
"Our sector is composed mainly of SMEs that have been making claims in accordance with national law for decades. The application of Passclaim criteria would prevent this. For botanicals the level of evidence required by Passclaim is simply not available."
Contact: European Botanical Forum; Tel: 0032 2 209 11 50
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