{"id":4382,"date":"2020-02-10T12:10:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T11:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/igifoodlaw.com\/?p=4382"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:12:48","slug":"4382","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/igifoodlaw.com\/en\/4382\/","title":{"rendered":"Why \u201cDETOX\u201d Is a Claim \u2014 and What It Means for Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A health claim<\/strong> means any claim that states, suggests or implies that a relationship exists between a food category, a food or one of its constituents, and health (definition under Regulation (EC) No 1924\/2006<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

In response to a European Parliament<\/strong> parliamentary question on the regulation of the term \u201cdetox\u201d<\/strong>, the European Commission<\/strong> stated (reply issued in March of this year<\/strong>) that the term \u201cdetox\u201d, when used in relation to foodstuffs, indicates a certain function in the body or an implied effect on health and therefore falls within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1924\/2006<\/strong> on nutrition and health claims.<\/p>\n

To date, several health claims relating to \u201ccleansing\u201d or \u201cdetoxifying\u201d properties have been submitted. All of them have been assessed negatively<\/strong> by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)<\/strong> and, as a consequence, have not been authorised for use on the EU market.<\/p>\n

It is worth emphasising that in some cases EFSA\u2019s negative opinion did not result from a lack of scientific substantiation, but from an overly general description of the health effect, e.g. \u201ccleansing\u201d, \u201cpromotes the elimination of toxins\u201d, \u201csupports the body\u2019s natural cleansing mechanism\u201d, \u201cdetox\u201d, \u201cdetoxification\u201d. In such cases, EFSA concluded that these are statements that should be regarded as non-specific (general) health claims<\/strong>. [EFSA Journal 2010;8(10):1733]. This fact does not, however, preclude the use of such wording as non-specific claims.<\/p>\n

The use of non-specific claims is possible, but only under several conditions. First and foremost, they must comply with the general requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1924\/2006, and a specific health claim<\/strong> (authorised or from the \u201cpending\u201d list) must be placed \u201cnext to\u201d<\/strong> or \u201cafter\u201d<\/strong> the non-specific claim. Importantly, \u201cnext to\u201d or \u201cafter\u201d does not mean using a footnote or an asterisk and placing the substantiating claim in a different field of vision than the non-specific claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetox\u201d also appears\u00a0on the\u00a0pending list of claims<\/strong>, which may be used only under the applicable conditions of use set out in the legislation<\/span>\u00a0until the pending list is finally decided.<\/p>\n

The Commission\u2019s interpretation presented in the reply to the parliamentary question is neither new nor surprising. Regulation (EC) No 1924\/2006 has applied for 12 years<\/strong>, and the definitions of \u201cclaim\u201d and \u201chealth claim\u201d contained in it provide the basis for qualifying \u201cdetox\u201d as a claim.<\/p>\n

Food labelling and advertising (including supplements and FSMP) are frequent topics of advisory projects and practical workshops delivered by IGI FOOD LAW<\/strong>.<\/h3>\n

Enquire about an advisory project or training: igifoodlaw@igifoodlaw.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IGI FOOD LAW | FOOD LAW | TRAINING<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A health claim means any claim that states, suggests or implies that a relationship exists between a food category, a food or one of its constituents, and health (definition under Regulation (EC) No 1924\/2006). In response to a European Parliament parliamentary question on the regulation of the term \u201cdetox\u201d, the European Commission stated (reply issued […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy \u201cDETOX\u201d Is a Claim \u2014 and What It Means for Companies - IGI FOOD LAW<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/igifoodlaw.com\/en\/4382\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why \u201cDETOX\u201d Is a Claim \u2014 and What It Means for Companies - IGI FOOD LAW\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A health claim means any claim that states, suggests or implies that a relationship exists between a food category, a food or one of its constituents, and health (definition under Regulation (EC) No 1924\/2006). 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