27 February, 2019

Notification of food supplements in Italy

Last year Italy modified the notification of food supplements in Italy. In addition it issued a proposal to Belgium and France that, if there are no objections, would come into force in autumn, to enlarge the information of the list drafted by these three countries (Belfrit) of the plants that may or may not be used in making food supplements.

In Italy there are two lists that limit and allow the use of certain vegetable ingredients in food supplements, an own one and the Belfrit list, drafted by these three countries in 2014.

Belfrit was the result of the efforts made by Belgium, France and Italy to harmonize the use of plants in food supplements in view of the European Union’s regulatory disinterest. These 3 countries agreed, under scientific criteria, on a list of vegetable ingredients from which to make food supplements, to which they would hope the rest of the member states to adhere.

Although in Italy both legislations always coexisted, the goal right from the start was to unify them.

This goal did not start to see the light until, after lengthy evaluation work, botany experts made the pertinent evaluations of the vegetable ingredients that could be included. The pretension by the countries participating in this agreement is for this new modification of the list to encourage the European Union to create a clear EU standard on this issue.

The difference of this list in regard to the previous one is the inclusion of plants that were excluded in the past and the mention of new composition requirements to which special attention will have to be paid.

Not even the EU Novel Foods directive contemplates vegetable ingredients. It is likely that due to this initiative by Belgium, France and Italy and other EU countries, the EU will take some common measures.

All this is completed with a change in its system for notifying food supplements in Italy. Since last year, all operators or businesses (both those with registered address in Italy and those from outside Italy) have to register on the Platform created by the Health Ministry for notifying food supplements in Italy. Once registered, and just like in France and Belgium, the registration of the food supplement will have to be processed by completing the fields on this platform.

Currently the fee payable for notifying food supplements in Italy is 160.20€.

Legalego Consultoría Alimentaria comprises a group of lawyers and technicians specializing in food legislation and in the notification of food supplements across Europe.