Business Development - Nutrient Profiling

Lawyer Philip Harmer – Senior Partner at Stormcatcher Business Lawyers – looks at the recent decision not to repeal the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation

Nutrient profiling seems in principle to be a ‘no brainer’ in the pursuance of promoting healthy living and combatting obesity and disease.

The underlying premise of the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation 2006, long since adopted in the UK and a handful of other countries, is threefold: to ensure that processed foods are clearly and fairly labelled according to their sugar, salt and fat content; to prevent brands from making spurious health claims; and to prevent marketing to children. An initial deadline of 2009 was set for the creation of these nutrient profiles.

However despite the application of simple logic and the 2006 European Regulation the majority of EU member states have failed to implement nutrient profiling.