BRUSSELS—If the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) doesn’t budge on its 13.1 claims evaluations, consumers could see a 25-percent drop in the amount of specialty nutrients (other than vitamins and minerals) they can purchase, according to the European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM). The trade association said if claim evaluations become law, Europe will experience increased barriers to trade and less consumer choice.
Further, EHPM chairman Peter van Doorn said levels of innovation in the EU will likely fall, non-EU suppliers will increase their EU market share because they can bypass labeling restrictions in their country of origin, and the viability of many EU businesses would be threatened.
The European Health Claims Alliance (EHCA) commissioned an economic impact assessment report on the EU’s Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, which reported a 25-percent drop in the market for substances other than vitamins and minerals. EHPM said it this is the case, the regulation will fail in its main objectives and severely damage the economic profitability of the sector.
“Consumers would lose out because of reduced choice and possibly higher prices as well as possibly more vague messages on labels and in advertising," van Doorn said. “The report shows that some companies have already incurred costs of adjustment associated with negative opinions."
Based on EFSA’s opinions, the impact assessment, based on a survey of companies producing and marketing food supplements across 10 EU member states, rates the achievement of the main objectives of the regulation–consumer protection, legal security, fair competition, innovation and the protection of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)–as poor and weak.
