Food claims

The European Parliament's environment committee today voted to reject (1) a proposal from the EU Commission to allow misleading nutritional claims on food products. The Greens welcomed the rejection of the proposals, which would allow producers to claim reduced percentages of potentially unhealthy components (like fat, salt, sugar and saturated fat) compared to a previous version of the same product. Speaking after the vote, Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter said:

"MEPs have today taken an important stand against misleading food claims. Nutritional claims on foods should only be permitted if they allow consumers to make a clear choice for healthy foods but the Commission's proposal would instead create greater uncertainty. The Commission proposal to allow claims about reduced percentages of unhealthy components could confuse consumers, leading them to believe that a product is healthy even though it continues to contain considerable amounts of potentially unhealthy components (like salt, sugar or fats). This runs completely counter to the purpose and spirit of EU rules on nutritional claims and we hope the EP as a whole will support the rejection of the Commission's proposals."

(1) The environment committee voted to reject the proposed claim under the comitology procedure. The EP will now vote as a whole on the whether or not to reject the Commission proposals.