Nutrition and health claims on foods in the EU legislation

Abstract

The main aim of the EU food legislation is health protection of consumers. The key regulations, Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers and regulation on nutrition and health claims are intended to ensure that consumers have sufficient information about the quality of the food product. That is why there is an effort by the EU to constantly improve food legislation in order to provide consumers with information in an acceptable and useful form. Currently the nutrient profiles and botanical health claims are in the focus of the EU Commission. However, this increases the requirements on food producers, in particular on the packaging of the product, which must fit even more information in a reasonably large font, and on the environment, as the amount of waste produced increases with increasing packaging area. The paper deals with the selected legal arrangements related to the health and nutrition claims on the food in EU food legislation in the context of judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU and point out the actual questions in relation to them.