Consumers are warned to be alert to health and nutritional claims on food packaging in France Pic: PERO studio / Shutterstock
People in France are warned to pay special attention to nutritional claims on food product packaging after a consumer association warned that 44% of packs claim a benefit that is not within regulations.
The association 60 Millions de consommateurs issued the reminder after a report from the French fraud office la Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF).
It also made a distinction between food items that make nutritional claims versus health claims.
For example, the first would include statements such as ‘low in sugar’. The second would go further, and might say something like ‘calcium is necessary for growth and normal bone development in children’ or ‘helps reduce cholesterol’.
And while these claims are not necessarily incorrect, a health claim should never be taken to suggest that eating or drinking a certain product helps to cure an illness or medical condition.
Similarly, the association warned that consumers cannot always trust these suggestions completely, especially those that imply that consuming a product can help cure or prevent a certain condition.
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