Eleventh hour solution for children’s health claims

A last minute intervention from Brussels has taken health claims about children out of legal limbo as the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation comes into force.

There had been concerns that products making claims about children’s health and development would have to be withdrawn from sale owing to a regulatory cock-up, as regulators had failed to provide a transitional period during which they could remain on the market while the Regulation was phased in.

However, a proposal drawn up by the Commission on June 28 - just two days before the Regulation came into force on July 1 - has corrected the error and allows for a three-year transitional period whereby products already on the market featuring such claims can remain while manufacturers prepare dossiers to gain official authorisation for them.

Claims about children’s health and development are allowed under article 14 of the new Regulation. However, they must go through a lengthy prior authorisation process co-ordinated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), requiring the submission of scientific dossiers.

“Such a transitional period and authorisation process for claims referring to children will ensure the protection of the group of consumers for which they are intended, and provide the economic operators with the adequate time to ensure a smooth transition in complying with the provisions of the Regulation,” said the Commission.

Had the eleventh hour change not been made, products such as children’s cereals containing health claims about prebiotics would have been technically illegal, said regulatory affairs consultant Neville Craddock.

Trade bodies and legal experts had been flagging up this issue for “months and months”, said Craddock, speaking at a conference organised by the Food and Drink Innovation Network last week. “This is a massive headache from a legal point of view.”

However, there was still confusion over what constituted claims about children, said Craddock, specifically whether they were ones which made child development claims or also those that made generic health claims on products that clearly targeted at children.

Kellogg, which makes Rice Krispies Multi-Grain, ‘the first kids' breakfast cereal in the UK to contain a prebiotic ingredient’, declined to comment.

Craddock’s concerns were echoed by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which criticised provisions in the Regulation specifying strict conditions for reduced fat, salt and sugar claims. These will only be allowed if manufacturers can demonstrate they have made reductions of 25% (for salt) or 30% (for fat and sugar).

“This change does nothing to help customers make healthier choices,” said BRC director general Kevin Hawkins. “Producers often make reductions in stages to allow customers time to adapt and customers need labelling that explains a noticeable difference in the taste of a product has arisen because it has been made healthier.”

Trade associations aim to compile the definitive EU list of article 13 health claims (claims supported by generally accepted science) for authorisation by EFSA by the end of this month.

The bodies involved have spent a year collating information. The workload was divided between the European Federation of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM), the European Responsible Nutrition Alliance, the European Botanicals Forum and the European food manufacturers’ trade association the CIAA.

Since EFSA has not provided guidelines indicating how much scientific evidence is needed and its evaluation methods for article 13 claims, the associations have asked independent experts to develop their own guidelines.

They account for food and food categories, diet and nutrients, health relationships and conditions of use, as well as the nature of the evidence and examples of label and advertising wording.

“We are in the final stage of one of the most substantial activities this industry has ever taken on - the development of the EU industry list of health claims,” said EHPM chairman Peter van Doorn. “It has been an enormously labour-intensive task due to the complexity of discussions, but the list will be completed well in time for submission to most Member States’ lists.”

The full article 13 list is expected to be published by January 31, 2010. The deadline for Member States to introduce claims for evaluation is January 31, 2008.

A total of 625 claims have been collated so far.