European Commission Must Decide If ‘Traditional Use’ Can Break Botanicals Deadlock

Allowing evidence for “traditional use” could break the regulatory deadlock regarding health claims made for botanical food supplements, the European Commission has suggested. This would unlock innovation currently stunted by the “on hold” situation, note researchers Alie de Boer and Karin Lenssen in a paper for the European Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS). However, there are regulatory issues that would need to be resolved for this to work, they point out.

It’s time to decide whether evidence of “traditional use” for botanical ingredients can be used to substantiate health claims made for food in the European Union, argues a report recently published by the European Parliament.

Otherwise, the uncertainty produced by the current regulatory situation, in which over 2,000 botanical health claims are “on hold” while the European Commission decides what to do, will continue to dampen innovation in the region, say Alie de Boer and Karin

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