New product development in the European supplements sector is slowing down and food product manufacturers are switching to more general claims in the healthy foods space, as uncertainty around European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claims continues.

Innova Market Insights tracked 384 new supplement products in West Europe in the first half of 2010 (January to June), compared to 405 in the corresponding period in 2009, in an analysis of the top five positioning categories for supplements. The leading positioning category for new supplements was weight management (99), followed by immune health (91) and digestive/liver health (86).

Functional foods innovation in Europe as a whole is also on decline in terms of new product launches, as manufacturers wait for EFSA opinions on health claims. Innova Market Insights tracked 1960 new products with an “active health” positioning (January to June 2010), compared to 2189 new products with this positioning in the corresponding period in 2009.

This decline in “active health” [food plus e.g. “fortified”] products came despite a growth in “passive health” [food minus e.g. “low and light”] claims on new products, with 10,350 products with a passive health claim tracked (January to June 2010), compared with 8747 new products over the same period in 2009.

“Apart from generic claims of vitamins and minerals, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) assessment of health claims so far has resulted in mainly negative opinions,” Lu Ann Williams, head of research at Innova Market Insights said. “Manufacturers seem hesitant to launch new products with a strong health benefit claim if there is a chance that they will have to make a change to their labeling in the near future. With EFSA now set a new deadline of the end of June 2011 for generic Article 13 claims and opinions on botanicals set to follow at the later stage, this uncertainty is set to last for some time.”