Food labelling and health claims
Dr Áine O’Connor
Nutrition Scientist
British Nutrition Foundation
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Outline
• Food legislation: an update
• Nutrition information
• Front-of-pack labelling
• Food fortification
• Nutrition and health claims
• Where are we now with the health claims process?
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Legislation
• Food labelling legislation is harmonised at EU level
• Food labelling Regulations 1996
• Food Standards Agency is responsible for food
labelling legislation and policy in Scotland
• A new EU Regulation -Food information Regulationadopted by the European Council last month
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Food Information Regulation
• EC issued a proposal in 2008 for a new Food Information
Regulation (FIR)
• New FIR will consolidate EU rules on general food + nutrition
labelling into a single Regulation
• Replace existing legislation in UK
• Excepted to come into force (Dec) with transition period
• For more info, see:
http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/foodlabellin
g/proposed_legislation_en.htm
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Changes:
• Nutrition information on processed foods
• Origin labelling of fresh meat from pigs, sheep,
goats and poultry
• Highlighting of allergens (e.g. peanuts or milk) in the
list of ingredients
• Better legibility (minimum size of text)
• provision of allergen information on non-pre
packed foods
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
What must be on a label?
 Name of food
 List of ingredients (in descending order)
 Weight or volume
 GM ingredients
 Date and storage conditions
 Preparation instructions
 Place of origin
 Lot or batch number
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Date marks
There are two different date marks which appear
on food labels:
• ‘Use-by’ - found on perishable foods, e.g. milk,
meat, fish. Foods are not safe to eat after this date
(food safety).
• ‘Best before’ - found on a wide range of food
including fresh, frozen, dried, canned and other
foods. Foods can be eaten after this date, but may
not be at their best quality (quality, taste, texture
and appearance).
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Nutrition information
• Not mandatory unless a nutrition claim is made e.g.
‘low fat’ or ‘high fibre…
• If a nutrition claim is made:
 Energy value of the food in kJ and kcal must be
provided
 Amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat in g must
be provided
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Nutrition information
• If they choose to provide nutrition information it must
be in one of two formats
• Further information can be added to labels such as the
amounts of polyunsaturates, monounsaturates, starch,
cholesterol, vitamins and minerals
Format 1: ‘Big 4’
Energy (kJ and kcal)
Protein
(g)
Carbohydrate (g)
Fat
(g)
Format 2: ‘Big 4 and Little 4’
Energy
(kJ and kcal)
Protein
(g)
Carbohydrate
(g)
of which: sugars
(g)
Fat
(g)
of which: saturates
(g)
Fibre
(g)
Sodium
(g)
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Allergen information
• Foods that are known to cause allergies and
intolerances may be listed in a box or highlighted to
draw attention to their presence, e.g. this product
contains MILK
• FIR will require unpackaged foods to provide allergy
information
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Vegetarian
• Industry already labels foods as suitable for
vegetarians or vegan
• 2006, FSA provided guidance for manufacturers,
caterers and enforcement authorities to improve
food labelling for vegans and vegetarians
• The FSA guidelines, have now been adopted by the
European Parliament giving the use of the term
vegetarian/vegan legal status
For more information, see:
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarch
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ive/2006/apr/vegvegan
Front-of-pack labelling
• Most of the big supermarkets and many food
manufacturers also display nutritional information on
the front of pre-packed food
• Traffic light labels on the front-of-pack provides
information on high (red), medium (amber) or low
(green) amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt
• The number of grams of fat, saturated fat, sugars and
salt in what the manufacturer or retailer suggests as a
‘serving’ of the food though the criteria are per 100g
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Nutrition traffic light guidelines
Sugars
What is
high
per 100g
What is
medium
per 100g
Fat
Saturates Salt
Over 15g Over 20g Over 5g
Over 1.5g
Between Between Between
5g &15g 3g & 20g 1.5 & 5g
Between
0.3g &1.5g
What is low 5g &
per 100g
below
3g &
below
1.5g &
below
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0.3g &
below
Food Standards Agency
Guideline Daily Amount (GDA)
• Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) are guidelines for
healthy adults and children on the approximate
amount of calories, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate,
total sugars, protein, fibre, salt and sodium required
for a healthy diet
• GDAs are not targets for individuals to consume, but
a guideline or benchmark to help them make
dietary choices and balance their daily intake
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Front of pack labelling
evaluation research
• Research is to evaluate the impact of the various FOP
nutritional signposting schemes on consumer knowledge and
behaviour
• The coexistence of a range of FOP label formats causes
difficulty for shoppers
• The strongest labels are those which include all of:
- Words ‘High/med/low’ +
- Traffic lights +
- %Guideline Daily Amount
BUT
• European Parliament failed to adopt traffic light labeling (June
2010)
• Quantities per 100g, GDAs and country of origin labeling
were approved
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Food fortification
• Mandatory
– Fortification - margarine (vitamins A & D to levels
comparable with butter)
– Restoration – brown & white bread flour (iron,
thiamin & niacin) – to replace nutrients lost in
milling (Bread & Flour Regulations 1998)
– Calcium
• Voluntary
– Vitamins & minerals to breakfast cereals
– Folic acid to spreads
– Omega 3 (and other) fatty acids
– Dietary fibres
– Plant & herbal extracts
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Why fortify foods?
Low intake*
Iron
Riboflavin
Low status
Iron
Riboflavin
Vitamin A
Calcium
Magnesium
Potassium
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B12
Folate
Thiamin
Zinc
Iodine
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
*’Low’ defined as intakes less than the Lower Reference Nutrient Intake (LRNI)
Source: SACN (2008): The Nutritional Wellbeing of the British Population
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
What are nutrition and health claims?
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Nutrition claims
• A claim about what a food contains
– Low fat
– High fibre
– Reduced sugar
– Source of vitamin C
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Health claims
• A claim about the effect a food or drink has on
health
– Calcium is important for healthy bones
– Helps you feel fuller for longer
– Omega 3 fatty acids can reduce the risk of heart
disease
– Contributes to healthy gut function
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Why regulate claims on food?
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
EC Regulation 1924/2006
• Regulation 1924/2006/EC developed in order to:
– Protect consumers from misleading claims
– Encourage innovation in the food industry
– Harmonise rules on claims in the EU allowing free
trade
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What does the regulation do?
•
•
•
•
Sets standards for nutrition claims
Process to ensure health claims are scientific
Nutrient profile
Some claims not permitted
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Nutrition Claims
• Only those in regulation can be used
• Conditions of use apply
– e.g. low fat = <3g/100g
– Source of vitamin C – at least 15% RDA
• Will have to comply with nutrient profile
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Health claims
• Divided into categories
– Generally accepted scientific evidence
– Newer evidence
– Those relating to either:
• Reduction in disease risk
• Children's health and development
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‘Generally accepted scientific
evidence’
• Text-book level
• Calcium is important for healthy bones
• Fibre can help maintain a healthy gut
• Vitamin A is necessary for normal vision
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Newer evidence
• Probiotics/prebiotics?
• Plant bioactives?
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Reduction of disease risk
• Cholesterol reduction (plant stanols/sterols)
• Xylitol and healthy teeth
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Assessment of health claims
• Expert body (EFSA) assesses the science
• EC – EFSA opinion and consumer understanding
• Claims placed on accepted/rejected list
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‘Generally accepted scientific
evidence’– current situation
• EFSA finalised claims in June
• More than 40,000 claims submitted by member
states
• 341 opinions (+/-) providing scientific advice on
>2,000 claims
• Complex, long process with lots of disagreement!
• Opinions on claims related to botanicals are
pending
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Case studies
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
‘Vitamin D is essential for the bone
growth of children’
– Studies showed good consensus on role of
vitamin D in bone growth
– Cause and effect relationship established
– Many people in EU with low vitamin D
– Food making claim should be at least a ‘source
of’ vitamin D (15% RDA)
• EC – approved claim
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Cranberry products and reduction in
risk of UTIs
– Some studies in test tubes
– Human studies carried out in unwell subjects
– High doses of active ingredients used
– Some were too small
– Cause and effect relationship not established
• EC
– Rejected claim based on EFSA opinion
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Nutrient profile
• Designed to prevent claims on foods that have an
overall ‘less healthy’ profile
• EFSA provided advice in 2008 highlighting
– Saturated fatty acids
– Added sugars
– Sodium
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Nutrient profile – current situation
• Due January 2009
• Still not available!
• Much disagreement on all sides
• No scheduled date for publication of final version
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Conclusions
• Important for nutrition and health claims in Europe
to be evidence-based and consistent
• But…
– EC regulation complex
– Lack of nutrient profile
– Behind schedule
• How does the consumer view nutrition and health
claims?
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
For more information on progress in the health claims
process, visit :
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/
Nutrition Bulletin:
www.blackwellpublishing.com/nbu
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation
Thank you
www.nutrition.org.uk
www.foodafactoflife.org
© 2011 The British Nutrition Foundation