ICPHSP1007 

                                                                                                         

“Health Claims and “Modern” or “Traditional” Food Functional Properties”                                                                                            Click here to download Pdf file.

 

 

Author:       Georgios A. Fragkiadakis Associate Professor

 

Affiliation:  Technological Education Institute (T.E.I) of Crete

                    Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Trypitos area, 723 00 Siteia, Crete, Greece

 

 

Abstract:

Concerning food policies and consumers’ health, three types of activity are considered: First, priority can be given to removing or reducing potential harm that may be caused through food consumption; second, policies can focus on the active promotion of health through the consumption of certain foods, as well as the design and implementation of interventions aiming to promote healthier food choices; third, policies can also focus on wider environmental, economic, and social factors. Within the second of the above activities, the scientific interest is currently also focused on “functional foods”, which contain substances offering a health “advantage”, beyond covering nutrition needs of the consumer. Many of the med-diet food are functional and its beneficial effects occur due to their additive and synergistic action. In some countries (i.e. in Japan) functional food are offered with a label mentioning specific health benefits. However, in other countries functional foods are either not labelled, or can be promoted with general health-claims; but it is generally prohibited to mention their possible effect on preventing/curing diseases, in order to be clearly different from pharmaceuticals, as well as from medical foods which require a special type of labelling and are used under professional medical prescription/supervision. Concerning the European Union countries, each may apply different legislations, however the Regulation No 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and Council, sets the general frame on the nutrition and health claims made on food. This regulation underlines the need of all claims to be understandable to consumers; authorizes the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to carry out assessments for health claims; prohibits mentioning of possible weight-loss rates; demands for the establishment of specific food nutrient profiles to appear with specific health claims; determines that health claims can be based on recommendations and endorsements of national medical associations but not individual doctors or health professionals etc. In each individual food, the “disease risk factor reduction” claims must be assessed and approved by the European Food Safety Authority, a procedure that started producing legislative results mostly recently. The overall procedures of health claims assessment by EFSA is big in scale and consequently slow; it concerns many foods that are not of everyday use and influences the commercial interests of food companies seeking a better branding of their products. On the other hand, we must consider the ethical marketing/advertising of a greater range of common med-diet food, both developed in nature or by man, still, of potentially everyday us, as: olive oil, olives, “tarhana”,“bulgur”, fermented milks and traditional cheeses with probiotics, tomato products, “tahini” products, walnuts, herbs, balsamic vinegars etc.

 

Keywords:

Potential harm, food consumption, policies, economic, social, factors.