EFSA holds consultation on possibility of expanding specific health claims

On 28 September 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) put out a call for stakeholders to respond to draft guidance on the scientific requirements for health claims related to gut and immune function.

ANH-Intl responded to the draft guidance on 22 October 2010. In the main, the document was criticised for not considering several important aspects of gut function and biology, and for its rather shallow discussion of immune function. Wider consideration of these issues will allow a fairer, more thorough appraisal of health claims in these areas.

The primary criticisms of the draft document were as follows:

• Important omissions and misleading statements concerning bowel function and related micro-organisms
• Occasional unclear wording and definitions
• Different standards of evidence for vaccine claims vs. health claims
• Exclusion of relevant forms of evidence
• Exclusion of health claims related to enzyme deficiences/replacement
• Omission of important aspects of gut biology
• Inconsistent and shallow consideration of immune function

Read the full submission.

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