Following a national press ad stating, “Diabetone comprehensive nutritional support for people with diabetes shown to help maintain wellbeing in UK nutritional research”. The ASA reviewed the product claims following a complaint. In defence of the product Vitabiotics Ltd stated the product was a food supplement as stated on the packaging and not a medicine. Furthermore, they said they had research to support their claims surrounding each nutrient within the product as well as a trial on the whole product. However, following a review of the data the ASA drew the following conclusions: The...

With EFSA rejecting almost 80% of health claims submitted under article 13.1, industry is rightly concerned. However, these opinions are not yet law. Although EFSA has given its opinion and the commission intends to publish the list, the European parliament has still 3 months to look at the opinions and their implementation through the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, which could in theory mean a potential chance to block their adoption into law. If parliament finds that the legislation and its implementation is not inline with the mother regulation then they can veto it, essentially blocking...

Gaining a health claim is one thing but gaining one that makes sense to the general public is another. As part of the general conditions of article 13 claims (Art 13(1)ii) a health claim must be ‘well understood by the average consumer’. Claims must also protect the consumer from being misled, and balancing these two issues is causing some difficulties when the Commission is to provide guidance on the flexibility of claim wording. In a recent meeting between the Commission and Member States (MS) on the 12th April 2010, the issue of how flexible EFSA approved claim wording could be was discussed....

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...

In response to the melamine/milk crisis China has been under huge international and national pressures to tighten up food safety legislation. It seems the government have taken note with foreign food manufacturers wishing to sell their products in China potentially forced to register with the country’s quarantine and inspection department every four years. The food safety law, which comes into effect on June 1, will oblige all foreign food exporters to register with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). A draft implementation of the rule states...

Weight loss has been the focus of the FTC over the past few years but 08 and 09 have seen a significant step up in their activity. Within the last week we have seen 2 of the heavy weight formulations receive legal attention. In 2005 The FTC charged RTC Research & Development, LLC (and owners Tracy and Robert Chinery) with making false and unsubstantiated weight-loss claims for Xenadrine EFX. In 2006 the court found in favour of the FTC and under the terms of the settlement RTC to pay $8 million in consumer redress. However, it has taken until the 24th of April 09 to conclude this litigation...

ProViva which has been on shelf for 14 years and in 2007 sold over 19 tonnes of product. However, following its launch of ProViva Female in 2008 to address iron deficiency could be under threat following EFSA’s recent negative ruling on Probi’s article 13(5) submission.* Probi AB (Part of Skane Dairy group) is a science company based in the university city of Lund, in southern Sweden and are the company behind the probiotic strain 299v. This particular strain provides the science behind one of the most successful probiotic products on the market with estimated sales of over €40 million in...

In one of the largest Pan European studies on consumer research the European Food Information Council (EFIC) have investigated the influence of food labeling on behavior and food choice.  The study surveyed 17,300 consumers in six European countries at home and in supermarkets. Initial results show that colour-coded nutrition labeling schemes have the tendency to be misleading. According to a recently released EUFIC study only about 18% of the European consumers check processed foods for nutrition information. Color coded nutrition information schemes such as the British traffic lights scheme...