As seems to be the case at the moment, Which? Magazine seems to be on the case of us healthy people!
Please find below the Health Food Manufactures response to the Which? Magazine article which a lot of the papers, well the Daily Mail (bad news is very good news to them!) went with on their front page today…. Lets not forget what’s going in in Syria hey????
Anyway if you’ll like to read the article you can find it here Which report Don’t believe the hype , as I said before below is the Health food trades response….
Statement prepared by the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association (HFMA) in regards to the investigation published in the September 2013 issue of Which? magazine titled “Don’t believe the hype”
“Consumers in the UK should be advised that this new report regarding health claims on food supplements is inaccurate as it infers that manufacturers are misleading their customers – which is simply not true. Just because a certain ingredient does not have an EFSA-approved claim, does not mean that it doesn’t have a beneficial effect. The report ignores the significant efforts by UK manufacturers’ to comply with the regulation as well as still provide factual information about what their products do and how they work.” said Graham Keen, Executive Director of the HFMA.
“The huge quantity of claims that have been ‘rejected’ is largely a result of EFSA applying an inappropriate pharmaceutical-style assessment to generic health maintenance claims on food ingredients, an approach usually used for assessing illness-related claims on drugs which are obviously completely different. Consequently, the list of unauthorised claims ignores the genuine value and evidence behind these products.”
“Furthermore, notwithstanding this new EU regulation, the UK food supplement industry already operates in one of the toughest regulatory environments in the world and as such, sets a gold standard in terms of product quality and efficacy. There is a fine line between tough regulation and over-regulation, and the industry is doing everything it can to comply with the significant requirements of this legislation; impacting every form of communication from labelling, promotion material, advertising, leaflets and websites.”
“The sad fact is that the regulation is putting a halt on many hundreds of proportionate and substantiated claims on products that have been well understood and accepted by the average consumer for decades – such as ‘dietary fibre helps maintain a healthy digestive system’ and ‘glucosamine helps maintain healthy joints’.”
“As a result, the legislation is, unfortunately, counterproductive as it denies consumers the very information that they need in order to make informed choices about how and why these products might be used, and what reasonable expectations they might have for their effectiveness. The ridiculously long list of unauthorised claims unfortunately does not reflect the genuine worth of these products which help millions of consumers to lead a healthier lifestyle.”
Don’t believe the Hype
Link to the HFMA website
