Food Law News - EU - 2001

EP Daily Notebook, 14 February 2001

PARNUTS - Report on food supplements: approximation of the laws of the Member States

Parliament adopted a large number of amendments to the Commission proposal on the approximation of Member State law on food supplements. The amendments call for:

• ingredients such as amino acids, fatty acids and herbal extracts, which can also contribute to good health and are already available on the market, to be brought within the scope of the directive;
• the labelling of products covered by this directive to always include the words 'food supplement' and the name and category of the nutrients characterising the product and/or the ingredients characterising the product;
• warnings to be carried against exceeding the recommended amount for daily consumption; if there are health risks this must be explained on the package leaflet or appear on the product itself;
• products to carry warnings stating that they may be taken by pregnant women or children under the age of one only with the agreement of a doctor or health visitor;
• excessive doses which could harm the consumer to be avoided;
• certain minerals to be included in Annex I of the directive, such as boron, nickel and tin, when evidence can be provided of their usefulness in food supplements.

Finally, MEPs called for certain vitamin and mineral substances marketed in the EU to undergo scientific evaluation.