Assessment of health claims made on foods commercialised in Catalonia

Abstract

Since 2006, all nutrition and health claims present in foods are regulated by Regulation (EC) núm. 1924/2006, which has as its main objective to ensure that the population have truthful, reliable and scientifically validated information. Since then, health claims on foodstuff labelling must be adapted to the texts and conditions authorized by this regulation. The regulation establishes two large groups of claims: claims referring to the role of nutrients or other substances in growth, development and the functions of the human body, including psychological and behavioural functions; and claims dealing with the reduction of disease risk or to children’s development and health. In addition, this regulation also establishes a series of general and specific requirements regarding the conditions for the use and the restrictions for the authorization of health claims. This study aims to estimate the number of health claims present in the labelling of different foodstuffs commercialised in Catalonia, as well as to assess whether these claims are in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EC) núm. 1924/2006 and other related regulations. For the identifi cation of the claims, a total of 3,220 foods commercialised at different points of sale in Catalonia were evaluated. Only 5% (n = 162) of the evaluated products presented one or more health statements in their labels, whether in the form of text, images or symbols. Of these statements, the vast majority referred to the physiological action of a nutrient or substance. Only 0.5% of the products contained statements dealing with children’s development and health and 0.3% referred to the reduction of disease risk. The food categories that showed a higher frequency of health claims were infant milks, vegetable beverages, fermented milks, margarine, milk, breakfast cereals and fruit juices. On the other hand, the foods corresponding to the categories of butter, cheese, already prepared dishes and sweets did not show any statement of healthy properties. Among the 162 products that included health claims in the labelling, a total of 384 declarations were identified, of which more than 60% referred to the functions of vitamins and minerals (especially vitamin D and calcium). Claims about the effects on cardiovascular health of reduced consumption of saturated fats or their replacement by unsaturated fats were also frequent. 73% of the health statements were properly adapted to the texts and conditions authorized by the regulations. Of these, 45% used the same wording as the authorization and the rest, although with a different text, were considered correct by applying the general principles of flexibility of wording for health claims. 27% of the statements were considered incorrect according to the regulations. The reasons why these claims could not be considered as correct were to refer to the effects on the health of nutrients or substances for which there is no real authorization (6%); use of a wording exceeding the principles of flexibility (12%); not complying with the specific conditions to be used (3%); or to have images or commercial brands considered health claims and to not be accompanied by any other specific statement (6%).

KEYWORDS: health claims, food, foodstuffs, labelling, consumer information.