Abstract

Since July 2007 the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation requires all claims made on foods to be pre-approved and scientifically vetted. The implementation of this law is proving exceedingly difficult because of its complexity,the lack of clarity that exists on many aspects and the underestimation of the burden of administrative for the approvalprocedures. Furthermore the scientific standard used by the European Food Safety Authority to judge the underlyingevidence appears more difficult to meet than what was anticipated. This article will update the reader on the status ofimplementation of this law, the difficulties encountered and the likely consequences for research.