EHPM Disappointed in EFSA Meeting

PARMA, ItalyThe European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM) released a statement regarding the technical meeting held here June 1 by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the European Unions (EU) Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation. According to EHPM, the meeting did not bring new information to light, and the discussions were lacking in substance.

We are not surprised at the outcome of the meeting but are disappointed that the opportunity to have a proper dialogue on the current application of the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation was not seized, said Peter van Doorn, chairman of EHPM. We feel that many of the stakeholders major concerns were not taken up. The Regulation clearly states that there should be different types of assessments between Article 13.5/14 and 13.1 claims which is not the case in practice and despite several calls for a review of the whole process, these were ignored throughout the meeting.

Lorène Courrège, director of regulatory affairs of EHPM, added, This meeting did not provide the type of dialogue on article 13 issues that EHPM has been calling for. Although EFSA wants to improve the dialogue with stakeholders, for example through a series of consultations on specific health topics such as immune function and gut health in autumn of 2010, we are very concerned these come too late and will not answer our current concerns on the application of article 13 of the Regulation as these are more designed for companies willing to submit a new dossier.

EHPM reported EFSA defended its decision to deliver its opinion on claims in batches to cope with the amount of applications, and that it expects the next publication of its scientific opinion on Article 13 claims in September 2010.