By Stephanie Hadley SUPERFOOD, SUPPLEMENTED FOOD OR DIETARY SUPPLEMENT? Times have changed, you can no longer say whatever you want about your product. All nutrition content and health claims now have a government regulated framework. If food and beverage is your business, we can guide you through these changes and help you identify, secure and maximise your health claims to maintain your product’s competitive edge. www.foodtechnology.co.nz 11 MAKE SURE YOUR CLAIMS DO YOUR PRODUCT JUSTICE. LEVERAGING KIWI KNOW-HOW JAWS.CO.NZ Contact Stephanie Hadley Solicitor stephanieh@jaws.co.nz 03 961 2460 It seems everything these days is a ‘superfood’, including our common everyday vegetables. It’s a buzzword of the food industry – however, when using this term loosely it could have larger implications by implying a health claim about the food that is being sold. Essentially, the term ‘superfood’ is used to describe foods and food ingredients that are ‘nutrient-rich’ or ‘nutrient-dense’, or those that are believed to have health benefits. However, FT268 using this term by itself without further communicating why the food is healthy or a ‘superfood’ could breach Standard 1.2.7 of the Food Standards Code governing nutrition, health and related claims. In New Zealand and Australia, ‘superfoods’ are not specifically mentioned in the Code, and in the majority of cases products making this claim will meet the required thresholds to be able to make nutrient and/or general level health claims. However, where they don’t meet these thresholds, or have omitted the required detail in their advertising or product labelling, then this will not only breach the Code, but it could be considered misleading and in breach of the Fair Trading Act 1986. The trend towards value-added products and moving beyond the raw materials is also gaining momentum in the food industry. This is where we cross over to the territory of ‘supplemented foods’, which are regulated by the New Zealand Food (Supplemented Food) Standard 2016. This Standard imposes fewer restrictions associated with the use of vitamins, minerals and bio-active substances when compared to the regulation of dietary supplements, although it necessitates the requirement to display ‘supplemented food’ on the label. It is also acceptable to make health claims about supplemented foods, providing they meet the criterion set out in Standard 1.2.7. So what then is a dietary supplement? The Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985 have been amended to exclude food-type dietary supplements. Generally speaking, dietary supplements are in a capsule, tablet, oral liquid, or some other therapeutic type dose form. Food is also specifically excluded from the Natural Health & Supplementary Products Bill which is working its way through Parliament. However, this proposed regime allows health benefits to be claimed for products as long as such claims are substantiated by appropriate evidence, and also sets out a number of pre-determined ‘allowable health benefit claims’ for particular conditions, such as the common cold. Organisations need to decide whether a product is to be sold as a food, supplemented food or dietary supplement, and ensure that their product advertising and labelling aligns with this categorisation. Organisations should be taking a ‘prove it or lose it’ approach to their product labelling and be mindful of their obligations when making any claims or statements regarding the health benefits of their products, implied or otherwise. Hadley is a solicitor with James & Wells.
FT-Apr17-eMag
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