BEUC NEWS - 19.01.2018

Today, BEUC and its member organisations from 11 countries¹ are denouncing the EU Commission’s long-standing failure to clear the market of bogus food claims.

It is common to see foods and drinks loaded with sugar, salt or fat with nutrition claims such as “high in fibres”, “B vitamins” or health claims like “boosts your immune system”. Those messages give a healthy halo to unhealthy products and mislead consumers as to the actual nutritional content of the food they buy.

To halt these unacceptable practices, 9 years ago today, the European Commission was due to publish criteria – called ‘nutrient profiles’. These maximum thresholds would act as “filters” preventing unhealthy foods from displaying bogus claims. However, the publication of those profiles has not happened yet. BEUC is calling on the EU to act now to avoid celebrating a 10-year delay in January 2019.

Today we are unveiling dodgy claims that our members have found on powdered drinks across Europe. We will be publishing in an online gallery one food category per day until January 26^th.

More:

• Photo gallery of misleading claims across Europe
• Join the #stopdodgyclaims conversation on Twitter
• BEUC factsheet on nutrient profiles

1. Arbeiterkammer (Austria), Altroconsumo (Italy), DECO (Portugal), Forbrugerrådet Tænk (Denmark), Forbrukerrådet (Norway), FRC (Switzerland), Kypriakos Sundesmos Katanaloton (Cyprus), OCU (Spain), Test Achats/Test Aankoop (Belgium), vzbv (Germany), ZPS (Slovenia)