From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia
Health claims on food labels
are claims by manufacturers of
food products that their food will reduce the risk
of developing a
disease or condition. For example, it is claimed by
the manufacturers of
oat
cereals that
oat bran can reduce
cholesterol, which will lower the chances of
developing serious
heart conditions.
Law in the
United States
In the
United States, these claims, usually referred to as
"qualified health claims", are
regulated by the
Food and Drug Administration in the
public interest. See
21 Code of Federal Regulations § 101.14.
On
July 10,
2003, the
Food and Drug Administration announced plans to
permit the manufacturers of food products sold in the
United States to make health claims on food labels which
are supported by less than conclusive evidence.
The current rule requires
"significant scientific consensus" before a claim can be
made. The proposed rule, effective
September 1,
2003, will permit characterization of health claims
using a hierarchy of
degrees of certainty:
-
A: "There is significant
scientific agreement for [the claim]"
-
B: "Although there is some
scientific evidence supporting [the claim], the
evidence is not conclusive."
-
C: "Some scientific evidence
suggests [the claim]. However, the F.D.A. has
determined that this evidence is limited and not
conclusive."
-
D: "Very limited and preliminary
scientific research suggests [the claim]. The F.D.A.
concludes that there is little scientific evidence
supporting this claim."
The proposal is being criticized as
opening the door to ill-founded claims. Advocates
believe it will make more information available to the
public.
European
Laws
In the
United Kingdom, the law requires that any health
claim on food labels must be true and not misleading.
Food producers may optionally use the
Joint Health Claims Initiative to determine whether
their claims are likely to be legally sustainable.
In Europe in early 2005 the project
PASSCLAIM was ended (Process for the Assessment of
Scientific Support for Claims on Foods). The project was
sponsored by the European Union and coordinated by ILSI-Europe
(http://europe.ilsi.org/).
The aim of the PASSCLAIM project was to develop criteria
for the
scientific substantiation of claims on foods.
Several hundreds of scientists from academia, research
institutes, government and industry have contributed to
the project. All the resulting papers can be downloaded
for free from
http://europe.ilsi.org/passclaim/. The final
consensus paper, comprising the final set of criteria,
will be published in June 2005 in the
European Journal of Nutrition.
An overview about the current and
future situations on health claims in the European Union
including proposals, press releases and memos can be
found at the website of the
European Commission at
http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/claims/index_en.htm.