103 research outputs found
Disclaimers voor kruidenmiddelen zijn niet langer van deze tijd
No full textIn 2008 werd 2.000 claims ingediend voor kruidenproducten. Ondanks de 15 jaar geleden van kracht geworden Europese voedings- en gezondheidsclaimsverordening is nog altijd onduidelijk waarom die nog altijd zonder beoordeling gebruikt mogen worden. Dat is niet meer van deze tijd, zegt voedingswetenschapper Alie de Boer
Fifteen Years of Regulating Nutrition and Health Claims in Europe: The Past, the Present and the Future
No full textSuggestions that a food contains healthy ingredients or that it can provide beneficial effects upon consumption have been regulated in the EU since 2006. This paper describes the analysis of how this nutrition and health claim regulation has resulted in over 300 authorised claims and how the authorisation requirements and processes have affected the use of claims on foods. Five challenges are identified that negatively affect the current legislation dealing with nutrition and health claims: non-reviewed botanical claims (as well as on hold claims for infants and young children), the lack of nutrient profiles and the focus of claims on single ingredients, consumer understanding, research into health effects of nutrition and finally, enforcement. These challenges are shown to influence the goals of the regulation: protecting consumers from false and misleading claims and stimulating the development of a level playing field in the EU, to foster innovation. Tackling these political and scientific substantiation questions for health claims, together with continuously analysing the understanding and usage of claims by consumers and operators will ensure that the NHCR will stay effective, today and in the future
Transparency and consumer trust in scientific assessments under European food law
No full textEuropean food law is a newly developing field in which different branches of law come together. The field is however also unmistakably linked with nutritional sciences, in requesting scientific evidence to ensure safety and benefits of foodstuffs. The risk analysis cycle introduced in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, ensures that scientific information – regarding i.a. the safety of a product – is independently and transparently assessed by risk assessors who are not involved in the final political risk management decision, in which this scientific information is used to allow such a product on the market. The European Food Safety Authority’s mission as assessor is to independently and transparently conduct risk assessments, which are published in scientific opinions. Transparency of both the procedure and of the Authority’s role, key in these assessments, are however two of the shortcomings identified in the evaluation of the Regulation 178/2002 that was conducted recently. In a proposed update of the Regulation, transparency of risk assessment is therefore one of the main aspects to be improved. This originates from the understanding that such improved transparency of the European food safety system will result in increased consumer trust. After shorty reviewing the development of European food law and the proposed adjustments to the framework regulation, this chapter shows that the concept of transparency, mostly understood as increasing the availability of information, requires to be further specified to ensure it actually contributes to consumer trust. The proposed adjustments to the Regulation 178/2002 are expected to increase information availability, whilst improved risk communication strategies might aid in establishing consumer trust. Further specifying the concept of transparency will result in an increased understanding of how to operationalise it and how transparency can contribute to increasing consumer trust
Food Safety Requirements for Novel Foods
No full textWhile new food products hit the retail shelves weekly, most of these foods do not fall under the definition of “novel foods”. Only foods for which it is unclear whether their consumption would present any risk for human health, are defined as novel foods in legislation. Even though there are some differences in regulatory measures across the world, different countries require these novel foods or novel food ingredients to undergo a premarket authorization. Key in such authorizations is that either the product can be compared to existing alternatives, or it needs to undergo a full safety assessment to identify its allergenic potential, toxicity or any antinutritional factors. Next to describing definitions and regulatory procedures, this chapter provides insights into the safety assessment requirements and steps for novel foods.</p
Labelling and denominating lung toxicity effects of pesticides
No full textPURPOSE OF REVIEW: With the development and use of pesticide products increasing, information on the safe handling of pesticides becomes increasingly important. In this article, the denomination of lung toxicity on labelling is reviewed.RECENT FINDINGS: The results highlight that whereas hazards, warning statements and instructions for safe use are broadly defined, the different categories of products used as pesticides are associated with different types of clinical manifestations of toxicity. These clinical manifestations are however not directly warned for by means of information provided on the label: more overarching terminology is used to describe hazards associated with acute toxicity, respiratory sensitization, specific lung toxicity after single or repeated exposure, as well as hazards from aspiration.SUMMARY: This misalignment between hazard labelling and experienced issues increases the difficulty for users of products and clinicians in dealing with adverse events. Together with ensuring that in risk assessment, an integrated approach is taken to study pesticide products, improving the labels will support the safe handling of pesticides.</p
Scientific assessments in European food law: Making it future-proof
No full textEuropean food laws increasingly use scientific evidence to protect consumers from hazards and to prevent the use of misleading information. In this article, the use of risk assessment in European food law is analysed and the implications of the recently adopted adjustments to the EU's General Food Law are reviewed. The risk analysis cycle that has been implemented in many authorisation decisions of the European Commission has resulted in the increased level of public health protection since 2002. The food law evaluation under REFIT however identified various shortcomings, including the civil societies' perception that various elements of EFSA's work lacked transparency and independence. To deal with these identified issues, the newly adopted regulation will bring about specific adjustments to the General Food Law and sectorial legislation. Although these adjustments are expected to improve European food policies, today's EU food laws should be further enhanced by improving the use of nutritional sciences in food law. Such joint efforts can result in a higher level of consumer protection and further advance the internal European market. Only through improving the systematic way to conduct scientific analyses into and by enhancing their use in risk management, European food law will become more future-proof
Demanding safe foods – Safety testing under the novel food regulation (2015/2283)
No full textBackground A legal framework cannot ensure that a food will never pose a risk to any consumer. Risk management procedures are put in place to control potential risks occurring from food consumption. In the EU, this is translated into premarket authorisation decisions to allow novel food products on the market, laid down in the Novel Food Regulation (NFR). Scope and approach In the authorisation decision under the NFR, the scientific dossier dealing with the food product's safety is key. Various adjustments were made in updating the 1997 NFR to the new NFR (Regulation 2015/2283), but scientific dossier requirements seem comparable between both versions. This paper aims to optimise the crosstalk between the two corner stones of the NFR, science and regulation, and therefore reviews methodological requirements to establish food safety. Key findings and conclusions For novel foods, the scientific dossier must provide evidence that no adverse effects are elicited by consuming the product and consequently, kinetics, toxicology, nutritional information and allergenicity must be analysed. Methodological developments within these fields and specifically in toxicology will reduce required resources as well as the need for large numbers of experimental animals in conducting risk assessments. New methods should be embraced throughout the EU by promoting their (of course critical) use in safety assessments of foods
How to Navigate the Tricky Landscape of Sustainability Claims in the Food Sector
No full textConsumers are increasingly interested in the sustainability of food products, but so far, no specific European Union (EU) legislation has been developed to harmonise sustainability claims. We analyse which efforts already undertaken within the EU dealing with sustainability claims on products apply to sustainable food claims. We show that whilst sustainability can address three different dimensions (environmental, social and economic), it is crucial to clearly define sustainability in order to allow for the development of concrete regulations and guidance documents. EU legislative initiatives so far seem to be focused on environmental aspects, whilst Member States approach sustainability more broadly. At the same time, substantiation methods can only be successful when sustainability is well defined. We conclude that whilst there is a large range of initiatives taken at different levels, the foundation of these initiatives remains weak when there is no clear scope of terminology nor clarification of substantiation requirements. Currently existing self-regulatory initiatives could support protecting consumers from misleading claims by providing specific provisions for (food) business operators on how to make sustainability claims. Only when claims can be trusted and understood by consumers will they be able to make more sustainable purchase decisions. This plays an important role in the overall policy objective of the EU of climate neutrality by 2050.</p
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