Nutrient Profiles – Are they really going to happen?

As part of the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation (NHCR) EFSA was to implement and set the criteria for what is an acceptable nutrient profile for foods carrying an approved health claim.

Nutrient profiles (Article 4) were added to the regulation to avoid a situation where using a health claim on label could potentially mask a poor nutritional status (i.e. high fat or high sugar) of a food product. As such the development of specific criteria governing the circumstances in which claims can be made are a vital component of the NHCR.

Despite the requirement for nutrient profiles in the regulation there has been a significant amount of discord between the member states and what constitutes a ‘healthy’ nutrient profile. According to the regulations nutrient profiles should be based on generally accepted scientific data relative to the relationship between diet and health. However, the caveat is that profiling should also take into account the variability of dietary habits and traditions. It is this last statement, which is causing the main issues with the regulations as each EU member state has different ideas about dietary habits and tradition and also what constitutes generally accepted scientific data relative to the relationship between diet and health.

Although profiling should have been in place by January 2010 it is still to be agreed, and in a recent request of Renate Sommer (MEP), the Internal Market Committee (IMC) and Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee of the EP (ENVI) have voted to delete profiling from the regulation. Although it will take a vote by the European Parliaments plenary in late May to give more indications if profiling will be removed from the NHCR, for many it offers some excitement about health claims.

One of the biggest winners if profiling is removed will be the likes of the Chocolate manufacturers (whom are actively involved in research on heart and dental health) whom may have been excluded from the health claims process due to the high fat and sugar contents typically contained in chocolate.