At last EFSA has released 94 opinions on a small batch of 523 health claims relating to over 200 food components. With 66% of the claims rejected (negative opinion) including the likes of glucosamine, the industry is again in turmoil - but it gets worse… According to Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) the body which helps make sure traders, manufactures and food producers observe their legal obligations, commented that those given a negative opinion by EFSA have 6 months to comply and be removed from the market. In a recent exclusive interview with EU Food Law Weekly,...

Dannon Co. have agreed to reimburse consumers up to $100 for products purchased out of a $35mn fund, according to settlement terms of a class action lawsuit filed in January 2008 regarding advertising for its Activia and DanActive products. The suit had claimed that the marketing and advertising materials for Activia, DanActive and Dan Active Light were deceptive. Under the conditions of the settlement , Dannon have agreed to some significant amendments to their labeling and marketing materials. 1. They will remove the word “immunity” from the product labeling and packaging of its...

LIPObind from Goldshield Ltd has been really pushed as a weight loss aid in 2009. Despite multiple cautions from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the past 2 years because of unsubstantiated product claims (including another for LIPObind only a month earlier), Goldshield are still marketing the product for weight loss…But at what cost? According to the September 16th ASA adjudication, LIPObind is still trying to market this product by function and name as a weight loss product. Although, LIPObind is classified as a Class IIa Medical Device the directive attached to this classification...

The UK company Provexis and its rich tomato extract Fruitflow® have won a positive health claim decision from EFSA. The applied for claim was quite consumer friendly i.e. “Helps to maintain a healthy blood flow and benefits circulation”. However, the approved claim is very non-consumer friendly, “helps maintain normal platelet aggregation”. With a claim 99% of consumers would not understand is the decision by EFSA so positive after all? Lets take a closer look at the application and the outcome! The ingredient mix in Fruitflow® contains 37 constituent parts and comes in two...

In March 09 Powerade® (Coca-Cola) launched “the complete sports drink” marketing campaign platforming their new product ‘ION4′as better than other sports drinks due to the inclusion of 2 additional electrolytes (0.5% of RDA - calcium and magnesium ). However, Powerade rival and market leader Gatorade® (PepsiCo) have filed a lawsuit against Powerade citing deceptive copy claims and billboard which show the Gatorade bottle and a tagline saying the drink is “incomplete” and missing ingredients found in Powerade. Gatorade has been incensed by several false claims from Powerade...

GlaxoSmithKlein’s (GSK) weight loss product alli (Orlistat/Xenical 60mg) made a huge impact in 2007 with sales over the first 2 months exceeding $53 million.  On Wednesday the 21st of January 2009 GSK received word from the European Commission that their application for non-prescription status has been granted, a first in the EU weight loss market. This marketing authorization allows GSK to launch alli throughout the 27 EU member states to adults with a BMI > 28 kg/m2. Given its successful entry into the US market and the EMEA ordering Sanofi-Aventi to temporarily withdraw Acomplia (rimonabant)...