A compromise on controversial nutrient profiling in the proposed European Union (EU) nutrition and health claims regulation could be in sight.
In its current form, nutrient profiling (enshrined in article four of the regulation) would prevent manufacturers from making health claims about ingredients in a product if its overall nutrient profile was deemed to be unhealthy. This has been bitterly opposed by the European Parliament (EP) and by manufacturers, which claimed that it could deter investment in functional foods and ingredients.
However, a compromise being pushed for by some MEPs could see health claims allowed on products ranked as 'unhealthy', provided that labels also highlighted high levels of fat or other nutrients, said Dr Nino Binns, a leading independent consultant in nutrition and regulatory affairs.
Speaking at a Food and Drink Innovation Network seminar, Binns said: "Member states look like they might accept claims on products if, say, just one nutrient exceeds the limits."
Meanwhile, there was still no clear indication of how nutrient profiling would work in practice, added independent food safety expert, Neville Craddock.
"How will the nutrient profiles be determined? We have the UK's Food Standards Agency model, but they have explicitly said that this 'scoring' model is purely for the purposes of the probe into advertising to children and is not suitable for labelling purposes, so no one really knows what's going on," he said.
His comments came as the Environment Committee of the EP voted for a compromise over the equally controversial 'prior approvals' process for companies registering new health claims.
This would enable some new claims to be fast-tracked through a six-month Community Registration procedure via the European Food Safety Authority.
However, any claims about disease risk reduction or claims targeted at children would still have to go through the full prior authorisation process, which could take up to three years.
The proposed regulation will go before a plenary session of the EP on May 17.