• Introduction
  • What are nutrition and health claims?
  • What are the issues surrounding health claims?
• Nutrition claims
• Health claims
• Current status of health claim legislation in Europe
• Summary

Introduction

A nutrition claim is a statement that either declares or implies that a food contains a particular nutrient. This type of claim can go further and highlight whether the amount of a given nutrient in the food is high or low. Within the European Union (EU), a regulation on nutrition and health claims came into force in 2007 (1924/2006/EC)¹. This specifies the conditions under which a nutrition claim can be made and in 2010 a list of approved health claims for use on foods will be published. Until this time those wishing to make a claim must submit this to the EC. As part of this regulation, a nutrient profiling system is being developed with the help of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which will prevent nutrition and health claims being made on products that are not healthy overall.  Labelling (2000/13/EC) prohibits food manufacturers from attributing prevention, treatment or cure of a human disease or any reference to such properties to any foodstuff. Human disease has been interpreted as any ailment, injury or adverse condition, whether of body or mind. Any claim, expressed or implied, that a product can prevent, treat or cure a human condition or disease is regarded as a medicinal claim and the product has to be treated as a medicine. In other words, medicinal claims are not allowed on foods. But the boundary-line between medicinal claims and health claims is not an easy one to define. As a result, the whole area of nutrition and health claims has been very confusing to many consumers. In this short web feature we explore some of the issues surrounding nutrition and health claims, looking at some examples from around Europe and also the EU legislation to harmonise claims across member states.

Nutrition claims

Nutrition claims refer to any statement, other than nutrition labelling declarations, which declares or implies that a food contains, or has a high or low amount, of one or more nutrients. Reference values for selected vitamins and minerals are increasingly used on food labels and it is comparison with these reference values which determines whether a food is a ‘source’ or ‘rich’ in a particular nutrient. In this context, they are described as Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) and the quantities to which they refer are often different from the dietary reference values used in individual member states. The table below outlines the criteria for micronuteint claims as outlined in the annex to the regulation.

Table 1: Criteria for Micronutrient Claims

Nutrient	RDA*	Source (sixth RDA) (min amount per daily serving)	Rich source (half RDA) (min amount per daily serving)	Label declarations (min amount per 100g or 100ml)**
Vitamin A	800mcg	133mcg	400mcg	120mcg
Vitamin D	5mcg	0.83mcg	2.5mcg	0.75mcg
Vitamin E	10mg	1.7mg	5mg	1.5mg
Vitamin C	60mg	10mg	30mg	9mg
Thiamin	1.4mg	0.23mg	0.7mg	0.21mg
Riboflavin	1.6mg	0.27mg	0.8mg	0.24mg
Niacin	18mg	3mg	9mg	2.7mg
Vitamin B6	2mg	0.3mg	1mg	0.3mg
Folic acid	200mcg	33.3mcg	100mcg	30mcg
Vitamin B12	1mcg	0.16mcg	0.5mcg	0.15mcg
Biotin	0.15mg	0.025mg	0.075mg	0.023
Pantothenic acid	6mg	1mg	3mg	0.9mg
Calcium	800mg	133mg	400mg	120mg
Phosphorus	800mg	133mg	400mg	120mg
Iron	14mg	3mg	7mg	2.1mg
Magnesium	300mg	50mg	150mg	45mg
Zinc	15mg	2.5mg	7.5mg	2.25mg
Iodine	150mcg	25mcg	75mcg	22.5mcg

* RDA figures defined within EU labelling legislation may vary from the dietary reference values used in individual member states.

** Minimum levels apply as a rule although exceptions are generally considered to be situations where the single serving differs significantly from 100g.

Food manufacturers often like to make reference to the relative amount of a nutrient, outside the declarations made within the nutrient panel on the food packaging. This is also considered to be a form of nutrient claim. Before the regulation on nutrition and health claims was published, the various Member States used different criteria to categorise a food as high or low in some nutrient. The table below shows the criteria used by UK food manufacturers as determined by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Table 2: Previous UK FSA Guidelines on Nutrient Content Claims

Nutrient	Low		No added		…Free
Fat		< 3g/100g or 100ml		< 0.15g/100g or 100ml
Saturates		< 1.5g/100g and should not make up more than 10% total energy of the product		< 0.1g/100g or 100ml
Sugars	< 5g/100g or 100ml		No sugars or foods composed mainly of sugar added to the food.		< 0.2g/100g or 100ml
Salt/Sodium	< 40mg Na/100g or 100ml		No salt or sodium added to food or its ingredients.		< 5mg Na/100g or 100ml
Source		Increased		High
Fibre	Either 3g/100g or at least 3g in the amount of food likely to be eaten each day.		> 25% more than a similar food for which no claim is made.		Either > 6g per 100g or at least 6g in the amount of food likely to be eaten each day.

Additionally, there are international guidelines relating to nutrient claims. The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The Codex committee on food labelling proposed draft regulations for nutrition claims in 2001. The purpose of the Codex guidelines is to ensure that nutrition labelling is effective in providing the consumer with information about a food so that a wise choice of food can be made; conveying information on the nutrient content of a food on the label; encouraging the use of sound nutrition principles in the formulation of foods which would benefit public health; and providing an opportunity to include supplementary nutrition information on the label. It is essential that nutrition labelling does not describe a product or present information about it which is in any way false, misleading, deceptive or insignificant in any manner. It is a requirement of the Codex guidelines that if a nutritional claim is made that there is adequate supporting nutrition labelling. The table below outlines the conditions (as described by Codex) which must be met for a manufacturer to make claims about the nutrient content of a particular food.

Table 3: Codex Criteria

Nutrient	Claim	Conditions – not more than…
Energy	Low Free	40kcal per 100g (solid) OR 20kcal per 100ml (liquid) 4kcal per 100ml (liquid)
Fat	Low Free	3g per 100g (solids) OR 1.5g per 100ml (liquids) 0.5g per 100g (solids) or 100ml (liquids)
Saturated fat	Low Free	1.5g per 100g (solids) OR 0.75g per 100ml (liquids) AND 10% energy. 0.1g per 100g (solids) or 100ml (liquids)
Sugars	Free	0.5g per 100g (solids) or 100ml (liquids)
Sodium	Low Very low Free	0.12g per 100g 0.04g per 100g 0.005g per 100g
Conditions – not less than….
Protein	Source High	10% DRV per 100g (solid) OR 5% DRV per 100ml (liquid) OR 5% DRV per serving OR 10% DRV per 100kcal 2 times the value for a source
Vitamins and minerals	Source   High	15% DRV per 100g (solid) OR 7.5% DRV per 100ml (liquid)