Draft prohibits claims for infant/young child foods

IBFAN’s work to seek an exemption for infant formulas and infant foods under the proposed claims recommendations got off to an excellent start. The delegate from the Netherlands proposed the exemption for infant formula which was then drafted by the Chair to read, “No health claims for foods for infants and young children.” This proposal was supported by the Consumers International; however, the delegate from Germany modified the proposal with the phrase “unless specifically provided for in other relevant Codex standards.” At this stage there was no opposition to the proposal.

The proposed draft recommendations are at Step 3 and need to go through a series of consensus-building Codex meetings to reach the final approval stage at Step 8. Nevertheless, this represents an important move forward in realizing a key aspect of the International Code in the labeling of infant foods.

The work to prohibit health claims needs to be continued. We urge those working in infant feeding to lobby their governments to seek national policies to implement the International Code in its entirety so that health claims will not be permitted and to support similar measures at the various Codex Committee meetings. Trade priorities should not be placed above the health of infants and children.

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