Food, Supplements & Nutrition and Health Claims
There are detailed rules on food, food supplements and associated nutrition or health claims in Rule 13 of the BCAP Code.
Following Brexit the UK Government decided to retain the requirements of the EU Regulation relating to nutrition and health claims in order to protect consumer interests. The Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims (NHC) Register can be found here. This is a complex area of law and the Clearance team may need to seek the advice of its nutritional consultant when considering the acceptability of claims.
Health claims
A health claim links a food or one of its ingredients to health. For example, ‘Vitamin B12 helps support the immune system’. A health claim may refer to the role of a food or ingredient’s role in reducing the risk of disease. For example, ‘Plant stanol esters have been shown to lower/reduce blood cholesterol. High cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease.’ Only claims appearing as authorised on the NHC Register are permitted, and the wording must be materially the same as that appearing in the Register.
Generalised claims relating to food such as ‘good for you’ and ‘healthy’ are also considered to be health claims. Where generalised claims are used they must be related to a named ingredient and the authorised claim for that ingredient.
• Common examples of authorised health claims include:
• Vitamin C helps reduce tiredness and fatigue
• Vitamin A helps maintain normal skin
• Vitamin A helps maintain normal vision
• Vitamin D helps maintain normal bones
• Vitamin D helps support the immune system
• Iron supports normal cognitive function
• Calcium helps maintain normal teeth
• Calcium helps maintain normal muscle function
• Plant sterols have been shown to lower/reduce blood cholesterol. High cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease.
• Protein helps to maintain muscle mass
• Vitamin B6 supports normal psychological function
• Thiamine supports the normal function of the heart
It’s important to distinguish between authorised health claims and medicinal claims, where a product is claiming to treat or prevent illness. Medicinal claims can only be made where the product has a Marketing Authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). A claim that ‘Vitamin C helps to prevent colds’ is a medicinal claim and couldn’t be approved. Health claims, on the other hand, refer to maintaining or supporting normal states of health; for example, ‘Vitamin C helps to maintain the immune system’ is an authorised health claim.
Nutrition claims
A nutrition claim is any claim that suggests that a food has beneficial nutritional properties. This includes important nutrients such as fat, sugar, fibre, protein, salt and vitamins and minerals. Only nutrition claims that appear in the NHC Register can be included in ads, and Radiocentre will need to have evidence that the threshold value set out in the Register has been met. For example, in order to claim that a food is ‘high fibre’ it must contain at least 6g of fibre per 100g or at least 3g of fibre per 100kcal.
Common examples of authorised nutrition claims and the associated claim threshold include:
• ‘Low fat’ – less than 3g of fat per 100g or 1.5g per 100ml
• ‘Fat free’ – less than 0.5g of fat per 100g or 100ml
• ‘Low sugar’ – less than 5g per 100g or 2.5g per 100ml
• ‘No added sugar’ – no sugar added in production, but may contain naturally occurring sugars
• ‘Contains/source of fibre’ – more than or equal to 3g per 100g or 1.5g per 100kcal
• ‘High fibre’ – more than or equal to 6g per 100g or 3g per 100kcal
• ‘High protein’ – at least 20 of the energy of that food comes from protein
• ‘Low salt’ – less than 0.3g of salt per 100g or 100ml
• ‘Contains/source of [vitamin/mineral] – contains more than or equal to 15% of the nutrient reference value (recommended daily amount) per 100g or 7.5% per 100ml
A full list of authorised nutrition claims can be found here.
Other food/food supplement claims
Advertisements for vitamins, minerals and other food supplements must not state or imply that a balanced and varied diet cannot provide good nutrition.
Advertisements for infant formula are prohibited. Advertisements must not confuse between infant formula and follow-on formula.
For a food to be described as ‘organic’ it must hold relevant certification from one of the government-approved organisations listed here.
Promotional offers and the use of licensed characters and celebrities popular with children must be responsible and must not be promoted or used in food or soft drink advertisements that are targeted directly at pre-school or primary school children (exception: fresh fruit and vegetables).