According to international food policy consultancy EAS, 2012 will see advertising messages across the functional food market move in a new direction as the European Commission begins to finalize its draft article 13.1 “Union List” of permitted health claims.
 
Stefanie Geiser, regulatory affairs manager at EAS, said that with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishing its final (6th) batch of article 13.1 claims opinions this week, the Commission remains on track to present its draft article 13.1 “Union
list” in December 2011 to the Standing Committee. 
 
Whether the Standing Committee will immediately adopt the text is as yet uncertain, as is the length of the article 13.1 transition period, which is expected to expire at some stage in 2012 after the list’s adoption.
 
Ms. Geiser said once the article 13.1 transition period expires, food companies would face the challenge of having to develop alternative ways of marketing and advertising to communicate health and other benefits of products.
 
While the Union List of approved claims is not expected to be small, with many claims for vitamins and minerals approved, Ms. Geiser said companies would have to adapt strategies to benefit as much as possible from the approved claims, and explore new advertising methods for products with ingredients for which claims have not been approved.
 
“Regulation has a huge impact on marketing, and health claims play an important role in the marketing of health food and nutritional products,” said Ms. Geiser. “But they are not the only marketing drive. Additional ways of making products attractive to consumers can be explored, for example, fresh innovative packaging or product label designs, new tastes and slogans [all] fall outside of the scope of the EU health claims regulation.”
 
“Innovation and differentiation can still be achieved through the inclusion of special ingredients, even without making health claims specifically for these,” she continued, “and claims can be made in different ways, for example, by combining ingredients with approved health claims with other ingredients.”
 
“Brand names and trademarks expressing health claims, for example, can under certain circumstances continue to be used until 2022 without requiring EU authorization,” Ms. Geiser added. “Certainly, with the majority of claims opinions for many key ingredient claims remaining unfavorable, if adopted, the current traditional marketing line for health claims will change and many companies will be exploring product reformulations and new marketing ideas.