DELFT, The Netherlands—A consortium led by TNO is in the process of developing a global standard for substantiating health claims of food, which will provide manufacturers greater insight into the effects and allow them to develop new health-promoting food as well as provide better scientific substantiation for health claims.
The NutriTech consortium is comprised of 23 research organizations and universities from around the world and backed by €6 million from the European Commission. A second consortium has been established with five major European food manufacturers contributing €4 million to accelerate application within the food industry. Both projects began in January and will last four years.
“Global standardized and accepted research methods will enable manufacturers to scientifically substantiate their health claims," said Dr. Ben van Ommen, principal scientist and program director of System Biology at TNO. “Food manufacturers develop products that have a positive effect on health but the scientific substantiation of such effects can be difficult to establish. To date many health claims have not been acknowledged by the EFSA on the grounds of insufficient scientific substantiation. This is discouraging, which is a shame because manufacturers need to be stimulated to continue developing healthy food. The new measurement methods that the consortium will develop will enable the health effect of food to be better demonstrated and so facilitate the development of new, healthy food."
