Probiotic food, food supplements, probiotics in novel and traditional food: whatever ‘probiotic’ you see on the market, the product falls within the scope of the EU General Food Law which protects human health and consumer interests.
There is growing scientific evidence on the role of probiotics in nutrition and health, and strong attention from health professionals, but the regulatory situation in the EU prevents food business operators from providing information about the probiotic ingredients to consumers, including the mere statement of the presence of these probiotic ingredients.
With no possibility to use other tools to communicate about probiotics, the lack of claims for probiotics has deprived the consumers of clear and accurate information and hampered the industry.
Taking place on 4 April, the webinar offered by IPA Europe will address the uncertainty caused by the current situation in Europe, and how policy makers can design coherent policies to address the triple challenge of better consumer information, a competitive and innovative European industry and legal certainty for this category of ingredients.
Today, however, there are several national interpretations and some of them are more in line with the role that probiotics play in diet and with consumer expectations of better information.
With the help of our experts we will present different scenarios that could create a favourable legal environment for the use of the term probiotic in the EU on labelling and communication. The webinar will be held by Esben Laulund, President of IPA Europe, Vice President of Technology Search Coll CHR Hansen (Denmark), who will explain how probiotics can be considered a sustainable way to maintain health and well-being, and what is missing for probiotics in Europe, and the legal expert Katia Merten-Lentz, who will provide the legal interpretation and will explore how to achieve a better regulatory fit. The discussion will be moderated by Karen Vokes, Chair of the IPAEurope Regulatory Committee and Regulatory Affairs Manager at IFF.
