As the EU has entered a new policy cycle, following the European elections and with a new European Commission expected to be fully operational soon, the sports and active nutrition industry is facing regulatory challenges. Over the past five years, the Commission introduced a series of policy initiatives impacting the marketing and composition of sports foods and it now remains to be seen whether and how the new decision makers will pick up these developments.
On 14th November, the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), hosted a webinar on “The EU’s term 2024 – 2029: What are the priorities of the sports and active nutrition industry?”. Moderated by Nick Morgan, Managing Director at Nutrition Integrated, the online event featured ESSNA’s Vice Chair, Claudia Mucciardi, regulatory expert on all things sports nutrition.
After explaining the regulatory framework of sports foods, Claudia provided an insightful presentation on “Food and nutrition: a round-up of the most important policy initiatives in the EU over the past 5 years”. The presentation discussed key developments on topics such as front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPNL) and nutrient profiles, nutrition and health claims and upper levels for vitamins and minerals (MPLs) in sports foods.
A lively discussion followed between Claudia and Nick on what the industry should expect from the new policy cycle in the EU. Claudia explained that while the Commission is yet to publish its work programme for the next five years, its Political Guidelines for 2024 – 2029, published in September, gave us “a sneak peek into the Commission’s priorities and new initiatives”. According to Claudia, the Guidelines didn’t make any reference to the role of nutrition in public health and “this does raise the question if the public health aspect of food policy is now being deprioritised, which is clearly quite important for sports nutrition”.
Claudia also stressed that any future legislation on food labelling and composition needs to acknowledge that sports foods are designed to accommodate the nutritional needs of active consumers and are not marketed to the general population. According to Claudia, this is important because previous initiatives exploring mandatory FOPNL and nutrient profiles as well as the introduction of EU-wide MPLs didn’t fully consider the specificities of sports foods and a blanket application across all food sectors would have unfairly penalised the industry.
Discussing current regulations governing sports nutrition, Claudia emphasised that the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation (NHCR) “isn’t really fit-for-purpose as it currently stands”. She said that while the NHCR aims to ensure transparency and consumer safety “when it comes to sports foods, it is quite restrictive; It really does pose challenges in terms of how brands can effectively communicate the benefits of their products”. Valid claims on key nutrients for sportspeople, such as sodium and glucose, have been rejected due to conflicting public health guidelines across Europe, Claudia said.
Claudia also touched upon the EU Novel Foods Regulation. Claudia said that while this legislation sets up rigorous standards to ensure consumer safety “it has a quite lengthy process, can be quite complex and causes delays not only for companies trying to get their ingredients approved and brands that want to use any new ingredients in their products but also in the end consumers could potentially be missing out on an ingredient that could really help benefit their performance”. “We need to push for a more efficient way to assess novel foods still keeping consumer safety at the core but just making it (Novel Foods Regulation) more efficient so that it keeps Europe competitive in that space as well” Claudia said.
The webinar also delved into ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a hot topic, according to Claudia, who explained that, while there is not any official legal definition of UPFs, “it is important to make the distinction that processed food doesn’t necessarily equal unhealthy, so, if there will be at any point some sort of legislation to tackle the consumption of UPFs it will not negatively impact any products that are health processed foods, like sports nutrition”.
You can watch the webinar below.
Following the launch of the sports foods sector’s Manifesto for the EU’s term 2024 – 2029, ESSNA will be carrying out targeted public affairs across Europe to ensure the interests of its members will be on the top of the new policy makers’ agenda. Businesses and organisations interested in finding out more can get in touch with ESSNA at info@essna.com
