96) The Committee recalled that, at its 28th Session, in view of the large number of revisions proposed and the issues that required further deliberation, it was agreed that the Working Group established at the 27th Session would meet immediately before the 29th Session to consider the comments received and further redraft the text.
97) The Chairperson of the Working Group, Dr M. Cheney (Canada), presented the redrafted text and a summary of discussions by the Working Group (CRD 48) to the Committee. It was highlighted that the Working Group: (1) changed the name of the draft to Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Use of Nutrition and Health Claims, thereby making consequential changes throughout the text, (2) retained the reference to consumer education in the preamble rather than moving it under Section 7 as a condition for health claims, and (3) agreed that infant formula and foods for young children should not be allowed to carry health claims
98) There had been considerable discussion in the Working Group on whether Nutrient Function Claims should be included as Health Claims rather than Nutrition Claims. There were divergent positions on Reduction of Disease Risk Claims: some delegations stressed their importance from a public health viewpoint, while other delegations expressed concern as to whether there were sufficient scientific data to substantiate these claims. The Working Group agreed that section 3.4 of the General Guidelines on Claims (CAC/GL 1-1979 (Rev.1-1991) might need to be reviewed in light of the Reduction of Disease Risk Claims as some delegates indicated that disease risk reduction would be equivalent to prevention of disease, and this claim was viewed as being contrary to section 3.4. The use of examples was considered useful in conveying the intent and differentiating the types of health claims under consideration in the context of the total diet, and a small working group (Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and CIAA) reviewed the table of examples submitted by Sweden[15] with the objective of illustrating the differences between the various types of nutrition and health claims. It was recommended that work on the development of acceptable examples for health claims should continue.
99) Many delegations and observer organizations expressed their appreciation for the work of the Working Group in addressing these complex issues related to health claims.
100) The Committee agreed with the proposal of the Delegation of Sweden to include a table of examples of health claims at the end of the Guidelines and agreed to add to this table the examples of claims which were already included in other sections of the Guidelines (see Appendix VIII).
101) The Delegation of Malaysia did not support the inclusion of examples in the Guidelines because the examples might be misconstrued to be conclusive; they might carry greater weight; they were not exhaustive; and the conditions for permitting health claims were already stipulated in section 7.1.
102) The Delegations of Mexico and Brazil stated that sections 7.1 to 7.4 should apply to advertisement, noted that the Working Group had not discussed this question although it is mentioned under the terms of reference of CCFL, and proposed that this should be considered by the next session.
103) The Committee agreed to include under Section 1 Scope a provision that health claims are not permitted for foods for infants and young children, unless specifically provided for in relevant Codex standards established by relevant Committees such as the Codex Committee for Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses.
104) The Delegation of India expressed the view that the disease and diet relationship should be established on a clear scientific basis in order to support claims, and that the serving size and instructions for use should be defined for different population groups. The Delegation proposed to delete the section on disease risk reduction claims as such claims were misleading to consumers, and to prohibit comparative and health claims for foods for infants and young children.
105) Some delegations expressed their concern over section 2.2.3 Reduction of Disease Risk Claims as they considered its inclusion was premature and suggested its deletion. The Delegation of the Netherlands proposed to include “Reduction of Disease Risk Factor Claims” since this would be more appropriate in view of the available scientific data to support these claims. Several delegations supported this suggestion and noted that they actually used this claim to reduce disease risk factors in their country.
106) The Delegation of South Africa and the Observer from ICGMA proposed to delete the reference to national health policy in the Preamble as it would create barriers to trade.
107) The Committee agreed that, for “Reduction of Disease Risk Claims”, in addition to information on an accepted diet-health relationship, information on the composition of the product relevant to the relationship would be required “unless the relationship is based on a whole food or foods whereby the research does not link to specific constituents in the food”. The text was amended accordingly.
108) Some delegations discussed whether or not the Reduction of Disease Risk Claims would contradict section 3.4 of the General Guidelines on Claims (CAC/GL 1-1979 (Rev. 1-1991)) and recommended that the relationship between the General Guidelines on Claims and the provisions for health claims should be further considered.
109) Some delegations expressed their reservation on Section 2.2.2 Enhanced Function Claims as this term was likely to mislead consumers.
Status of the Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Use of Nutrition and Health Claims (Proposed Draft Recommendations for the Use of Health Claims)
110) The Committee agreed that the Proposed Draft Guidelines needed further development and to return them to Step 3 for further comments and consideration at the next session (see Appendix VIII). It was agreed that a Working Group open to all member countries and international organizations chaired by Canada would meet between the sessions and immediately prior to the next session in order to facilitate the revision of the text.
