Codex Labeling Committee prohibits health claims for infant foods

Easier to digest,” “improved cognitive ability,” “more like breastmilk than ever before,” will no longer be permitted, the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Labeling has determined. Although the committee’s deliberations are not yet at the final stages of approval, the provision ([Nutrition and] health claims are not permitted for foods for infants and young children unless specifically provided for in relevant Code standards.) will restrict the ability of the baby foods industries to create a sense of equivalency between breastmilk and infant formulas and to glamourize their products in order to compete with breastfeeding.

This critical provision was again supported by the global community at the Codex Alimentarius Committee, a joint UN body under the auspices of the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization, which sets labeling and quality standards for food commodities and products, including infant formulas and complementary foods.

Even though the implementation of this prohibition on health claims would need recognition by individual countries, the baby food industry must comply with Code Alimentarius rules when individual countries have set rules for labeling provisions that follow the guidelines set by the Codex Committee for Food Labeling.

The same Codex labeling committee also attempted to address the labeling needs for food and food ingredients produced through genetic modification. Government representatives of the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Canada attempted to soften the language of genetic engineering to “foods produced through the use of modern biotechnology.” They also attempted to maintain their positions on “voluntary labeling.” Canada is promoting the labeling of genetically modified food and food ingredients only if there are differences between the GMO products, such as nutritional and or other compositional changes. In these cases it is the nutritional difference or the increased allergenicity that will be labelled and not the fact that the product’s method of production is by genetic alteration. According to the delegation from the U.S., to label according to whether or not a product or ingredient is genetically modified is “misleading.”

Top | Spring 2002 Newsletters Contents |