24 January, 2018

Health claims, how to get your approval?

In our post on Declarations on the label of a food product, we were already talking about how to complete the regulation of nutrition and health claims on labels. Now, how to get the approval of health claims or health claims?

Trends in Food Science and Technology has published a series of recommendations addressed to food companies to try to reduce the rejections of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) towards requests for declaration of healthy properties of food, what is designated in English substantiation of health claims. The study has been led by the University of Surrey, Aarhus, Ljubljana, and the Research Institute of Slovenia. All of them, members of the Rediclaim, a European project focused on reducing the risk of diseases from food and beverage concessions.

The number of authorizations approved by EFSA continues to be very low. The process of filing new health claims and safe drinks is complex. It requires time and knowledge of jurisprudence, and in many cases, as the study leaders point out, companies allocate money and personnel without guaranteeing success.

For the creation of these new guidelines, Rediclaim researchers have reviewed the opinions issued by EFSA on healthy food declarations, and also met with experts who have participated in the creation of healthy declaration requests for food and with consultants specialized in the process of authorization of declarations.

Some of the recommendations that we want to point out from the study are that companies must claim the effects that products have on human health, and also verify it scientifically. Although it should also be mentioned that a scientific investigation does not guarantee the authorization of the food in question.

From LegaleGo Nutrition, we recognize the complexity of the process of presenting new declarations or health claims. We believe that this study will help food companies to make declarations easier and contribute to the development of safe and competitive products for the consumer.

If you find this type of protocol tedious and you are going to invest resources in order to obtain approval for your health claim, trust LegaleGo Nutrition. We are a food consultancy with great experience in the sector used to this type of procedures. Ensure that your investment of time and resources achieves the approval of your product.