EU Lacks Consensus on Glucosamine Claims

BRUSSELSEuropean Union (EU) Member States continue to struggle to define the underlying criteria necessary to support health claim approval, as evidenced by their failure to agree on European Food Safety Authoritys (EFSA) recent unfavorable opinion on article 14 glucosamine claims. January deliberations in the Standing Committee, on the Food Chain and Animal Health Section on General Law did not culminate with a decision on the validity of article 14 disease risk reduction claims for glucosamine and reduced cartilage degeneration. EFSA had previously decided it could not reach a scientific conclusion because studies submitted were conducted only on diseased people, noting it could not extrapolate the studied effects on healthy people.

The European Advisory Service (EAS) acknowledged the need to match the proposed claims target group with the target group studied, but noted the growing importance of establishing consensus criteria for acceptance. "It is difficult for companies to understand which type of health condition will be accepted under the claims Regulation and which will not, said EAS Regulatory Affairs Manager Stefanie Geiser. "In addition it is difficult to understand why and on which basis certain studies performed on patients and relating to certain health conditions should be excluded, taking into account that disease risk reduction claims are included in the scope of the EU claims Regulation. We therefore very much welcome that the Commission, Member States and EFSA are now discussing the criteria for acceptance of such studies in more detail."

The European Commission has now asked the Member States for their views on EFSA 's opinion regarding these claims, to be discussed in the next Standing Committee on April 26, 2010.