Today’s publication of Commission Regulation EU 432/2012 establishing a list of permitted health claims on food (other than those referring to the reduction of disease risk and to children’s development and health) has been declared ‘a new dawn for the functional food industry’ by Nigel Baldwin, Chairman of the Food Additives & Ingredients Association (FAIA.)

This long-awaited regulation (which applies from 14 December 2012) completes the list of positive list of health claims permitted in the European Union by the addition of general function ‘Article 13.1’ health claims to the already adopted lists of new ‘Article 13.5’ general function health claims and ‘Article 14’ health claims.

“This is a new dawn for the functional food industry in Europe,” says Baldwin. “However, everybody agrees it’s not perfect and many are still trying to understand what this means for their future innovation.

“But it does create as many new opportunities as it does restrictions. We can now use more than 200 new health claims. And where there are gaps in the market, such as for weight loss products, there is obviously opportunity for those prepared to invest in high quality scientific studies.

“We, the industry, look forward to further constructive dialogue with the UK Department of Health, the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to continue to develop a robust but proportionate approach. We are ready for the challenge as ingredient producers.”

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