BRUSSELS, Belgium— EAS is hosting a one-day workshop, “Marketing Food Supplements in Europe: The key steps to a successful product launch,” on June 17. The session is designed to help companies understand legislative issues impacting the marketing of food supplements, including national approaches to ingredients, novel foods and health claims.
“The EU Regulation on health claims continues to present an important marketing hurdle for food supplement companies and ingredient suppliers in the EU,” said Stefanie Geiser, EAS-Italy regulatory affairs manager. “The European Food Safety Authority standards for scientific substantiation are high, and there have been many rejected files. The European Commission and Member States, however, still have the final say in the interpretation of the European Food Safety Authority’s opinions. In our workshop we will present the status of EFSA evaluations and standards but also provide a review of what companies can expect on health claims for the future.”
The EAS regulatory team will also be providing companies with expert advice on the key steps to be followed when launching food supplement products in Europe. The aim is to equip companies so as develop an effective strategy for different types of food supplements for a successful launch, avoiding the common pitfalls.
“While the European Union seems to be moving ahead with the harmonization of food legislation, a company wishing to market a food supplement product across Europe must still comply with a combination of European Union and national laws,” said Katrina Wagner, EAS regulatory affairs manager, and one of the workshop presenters. “Manufacturers are often having to reformulate according to the country-specific rules. It is therefore essential to have a good knowledge of the pan-European regulatory environment to overcome the challenges to marketing products across the EU.”
