EU label plans
Proposals from Brussels to harmonise rules on health claims across the EU have been slammed by manufacturers as "shambolic".
Under proposals put to the European Commission on Wednesday, manufacturers would be prevented from making positive health claims about specific ingredients in a product if the product overall was deemed to be unhealthy.
This would effectively ban a manufacturer from making a health claim such as contains folic acid, good for your unborn baby' if the product also contained high quantities of sugar or salt, for example.
Similarly, claims about the health benefits of a calcium-rich product would be outlawed on high fat goods.
If the proposal gets the thumbs up in Brussels,only products meeting a certain nutrient profile' would be able to make nutritional or health claims, even if the manufacturer could provide scientific evidence proving that individual ingredients offered positive health benefits.
Food and Drink Federation deputy director general Martin Paterson said the proposal, which would also be applied retrospectively to products already on the market, was "baffling" and represented "censorship to the consumer".
He added:"This shambolic process not only stops manufacturers from being able to communicate a product's benefit to customers, but also assumes consumers don't want to know about it on the basis of the product's other ingredients."
More worryingly, it could also reduce investment in research and development if manufacturers were unable to communicate benefits.
The proposals will be referred to national governments this month and are expected to go to the European Parliament in September.
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