A POSTnote on the EU's Nutrition and Health Claims (NHC) Policy

This report provides a critical evaluation of the European Union's Nutrition and Health Claims (NHC) policy, specifically Regulation 1924/2006, in the form of a briefing document for Members of Parliament. It covers the historical background of NHC, the aims of the regulation to ensure truthful and scientifically valid food claims, and the different types of claims permitted under Articles 13.1, 13.5, and 14. The document details the evaluation process of evidence by the European Food Safety Authority, the application submission process for acquiring authorization for health claims, and the strengths and limitations of the NHC regulation, including concerns about the 'Generally Acceptable Scientific Evidence' (GAS) criteria. The report references various studies and official journals to support its analysis and arguments, highlighting the importance of informed consumer decision-making and positive health outcomes within the EU.

NUTRITIONAL AND HEALTH
CLAIMS BY THE NHC POLICYWith the onset of advancementsin science,
technology and globalisation, nations worldwide are
currently encountering dynamic changes in lifestyle
behaviorswith an increased inclination towards
consumption of processed, packaged and convenient
foods (Crinoet al. 2018). Appropriate nutritional
labeling lies at the forefront in providing guidance to
consumers during selection offoods via outlining
the key the presence of key nutrients(Mhurchuet al.
2018). Recent emergencein trends towards
overweightand obesity among 51.6% of the
European Union’s (EU) population,as reported by
the EuropeanCommission,have driven food
manufacturing companies to outline nutritional and
health claimson the labels of their respective
products(Devliegeret al. 2016). The nutritional and
health claims ofthe EU’s 1924/2006 Regulations
aims to evaluate, appraise and monitor the scientific
basis underlying such nutritional and health claims
(J. van buul and Brouns2015).
Historical Background
The nutritionaland health claims by the
EU’s 1924/2006 Regulation was formulated in the
year 2006, with the objective of ensuring the
scientificvalidity underlyingnutritionalclaims
highlighted in food labels via assessmentof its
clarity and accuracy with reference to scientific
research(McGettigan, Kerr and McCann 2017).
Nutritionalare the key drivers of consumer food
purchasingand hence, customersare at an
increased risk of negative health outcomes due to
consumption of foods with unsubstantiated claims.
Hence,the NHC policy aims to provide protection
to consumers as wellas their health from such
fraudulent food consumption (Scholey and
Pritchard 2016).
Due to the increased inclination towards
conveniencefood consumption,food manufacturer
must aim to formulate nutritionally balanced food
Thus, the need for encouraginginnovative food
production coupled with provision ofa fair competing
platform among manufacturers,outline the rationale
behind the history of the NHC policy developmen
(Ballco and de-Magistris 2018).Hence,for the purpose
of policy development,the European Commission (E
produced a ‘NutritionalClaims and FunctionalClaims
Discussion Paper’,followed by which a proposal ens
concerning legislation ofthe Regulation.The proposal
was followed by views from over 90 stakeholders
industrial and consumer groups resulting in acqu
of parliamentary votes on 3rd June 2005.Following the
inclusion of nutritional profiles and required proc
for authorisation,the second votingsession in the
European Parliament was conducted in 16th May 2006
resulting in the finallegislation ofthe nutritionaland
health 1924/2006 Regulations(Khedkar, Bröring and
Ciliberti2017).
Summary Points: Key Words
•A health claim implies the presence of a posi
association between a nutrient and health
characteristics such as growth,development and
disease reduction (Delcouret al.2016).
•A nutritional claim implies the presenceof
advantageous nutritious characteristics in a f
such as ‘low cholesterol’, ‘low fat’ or ‘low calo
‘high in antioxidants’ (Hiekeet al.2016).
•A nutritionallabel encompasses key informati
on nutritionalcompositionand key nutrient
availability in a food item(Mayhew et al. 2016).

Aims of the Regulation
The NHC nutritionaland health claims1924/2006
Regulations underwent implementation in 2006 with
the aim to ensure thatthe claims on nutrition and
health highlighted in food retailed in the EU were
truthful and in possession of underlying evidence and
researchedevaluated by credible academic and
scientific expertise(Mitić and Gligorijević2015). Hence,
the aims of the regulation are(Hiekeet al. 2016):
•To monitor the truthfulness,clarity and scientific
validity of nutritional food claims to prevent consumer
deception.
•To ensure thatstandardisation in good’s movement
and uniformity in competition
•To encouragenutritionalinnovation and scientific
accuracy in food manufacturing
Considering the same,the 1924/2006 Regulation was
formulated with the foundationalrationale and
objective of dictating consumer food selections through
inform decision making paving the way for the overall
fulfillment ofpositive health outcomes for the public
(Benson et al. 2018).
Types of Claims
In accordance to Articles 13.1,13.5 and 14(Official
Journal of the European Union 2006):
•Foods which contain a health claim outlining the
beneficialrole of an ingredient in development,
growth,enhancementof psychologicalor behavioral
function and alterations in body composition can be
considered acceptableif they have been generally
validated by a scientific community and are
understandable by consumers.
•Foods with health claims which aim to incorporate
novel nutritionalclaims within existing scientific
information mustaim to include requestsfor the
protection of proprietary data.
•Foods with health claims dictating the benefits ofa
componentin the eradicationof a disease and
improvement in the development and growth of a child,
are acceptableafter acquiringauthorisation to an
authority of national competence.
Evaluation of Evidence
The evaluation of the scientific evidence is cond
by the EuropeanFood Safety Authority which
monitors based on(Carreño2016):
•How clearly is the food,nutrientand health claim
defined? For example: If a food states that it co
specific components to help in weight loss,then the
claim must clearly define the biochemical mech
which result in weight loss.
•How explicitly defined are the benefits of the h
claim for the purpose of improving the health o
targeted population? Hence,as noted above,the food
must scientificallyjustify why and how its
components are specifically beneficialto the target
(for example: weight loss in adult population).
•Is there a presence of and what is the nature o
effectrelationship and is the health claim valida
with human-based studies of significant rigor, s
validity and biologicalplausibility? Hence,the above
food must specify the relationshipbetweenthe
nutritionalcomponentand pathology ofobesity by
using researches which are scholarly,peer reviewed
and have been tested on human subjects of the
population, that is adults., who are obese.
Process of Application Submission
In accordance to Article 15,for the application of
acquiring authorisation for the usage of a scientif
credible health claim(Official Journal of the European
Union 2006):
•An application must be submitted to a Member o
authority of nationalcompetence,which must include
contact details of the applicant the nutrient or he
claim in question,copies ofscholarly peer reviewed
articles scientificallyvalidatingthe claim and an
indication of proprietary information.
•The concerned Member will acknowledgethe
application within 14 days of reception, followed
issuance ofnotification to memberstates and the
national Authority for further verification.

Strengths and Limitations
The NHC’s 1924/2006 Regulationon health and
nutritionalclaims as observed byKhedkar, Bröring and
Ciliberti (2017), proves to be a significant barrier towards
fraudulent nutritional claims along with being a facilitator
in the production ofscientificallycrediblenutritious
foods.Howeveras examined by Bremmers, van der Meulen
and Purnhagen (2013), the lack of such policies in the
United Kingdom,upon administration ofBREXIT may
prove to be harmful in the long run.In accordance to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
UK has been reported with the highest rates of obesity in
Europe,primarily dueto increased convenienceand
packaged food consumption(Ells 2015). Hence,the NHC’s
1924/2006 Regulation is required in the UK due to its
ability to encourage informed consumer decision making
and ensure positive health outcomes(Department of
Health 2011). Howeveras noted by Hung and Verbeke
(2019), adaptations to the existing regulation mustbe
considered concerning Article 13.1 which approves health
claims based on availabilityof ‘Generally Acceptable
Scientific Evidence’(GAS)As noted by Martini et al. 2017,
such claims are often inconclusive and erroneous since
most of these have been found to rely upon studies which
are scientifically invalid,lack human studies,possess
inadequate wording or evidence and rely extensively on
in-vitro studiesinstead of controlled trialsrecruiting
human subjects.Hence,this policy requires adaptation
due to its limitation ofaccepting health claims on the
basis of just GAS availability.
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