Health Claims in Europe - New Regulation Coming
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The European Union is discussing a Europe-wide regulation for what in legislative parlance is called "health claims", those things that can be said about a food's or a food supplement's relation to health and about its capacity to prevent disease.
The European Union - just as many national governments - is showing a rather schizofrenic attitude here: On the one hand, the conncection between food and health is becoming more and more obvious. Government programs promote prevention of serious illness by healthy eating habits, we're supposed to eat ever more fruits and vegetables to get the nutrients we need to stay healthy - really difficult in the era of fast food and big macs - but on the other hand, instead of promoting and stimulating open discussion about foods and their influence on health, the EU seems intent to clamp down on communication, at least as far as the manufacturers and the sellers of these products are concerned.
Any indication of or hint of a food's relation to health or disease prevention is to be centrally approved, and it can only be given the official stamp "in accordance with the highest scientific standards". Welcome to Big Brother telling you what to eat and what not.
Now who would profit from such a rule? Certainly not consumers who want to find out what's new on the table and what to eat to stay fit. And for sure not those who think that supplements might be part of the answer to stay healthy. As a matter of fact, it looks as if supplements - already under the gun from an earlier EU directive - will be the big losers under this new EU proposal.
Unlike the food multinationals, supplements manufacturers, especially the smaller and medium sized businesses that make up the bulk of the species, will be unable to compete in the "claims" arena. They simply won't be able to tell any more what their products are good for.
Cui bono? Can you say food multinationals?
Nigel Fawkes from the UK explains what the regulation will mean for information available about food supplements, those products that are formulated with the very purpose of helping to stay healthy...
(Thanks to Julia Pendower for sending the article that follows.)
