Since last summer, companies who want to make a claim about nutritional benefits have to meet criteria set out under regulation 1924/2006. This rule means any food product claiming to have a health or nutritional benefit must meet a list of European Commission approved wording, and be supported by science.

Companies have had to submit a proposal under article 13 of the rule to their national regulator, which then has to forward the claim on to the Commission by tomorrow. In turn, the Commission will then pass them to the European Food Safety Authority for evaluation.

Early

A Commission spokesperson told NutraIngredients.com that it was too early to tell how many claims it may receive.

"We expect to have a clearer view of the number of claims submitted by the member states in about a month," a spokesperson said.

At the end of last week the Commission had "just received some input from the member states and we expect more of it in the coming days."

Basil Mathioudakis, head of food law and nutrition at the Commission, has already expressed his concern over the number of health claims which may be submitted from industry to member state regulators.

Although no definitive number has come forward, claims are expected to be in their thousands.

The French food administration has indicated that is has received several hundred article 13 claims dossiers.

There is also an additional list of 776 health relationship established by the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the European Union (CIAA) and the European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM).

A "lengthy list of health claims for herbs" has also been submitted in Italy, the International Alliance of Dietary Food Supplement Associations (IADSA) said.

In October, Finland's Ministry of Trade and Industry said it had received 625 responses for claims.

Some regulators, such as the UK's Food Standards Agency hope to reduce the number of submissions they have received so far. The FSA hopes its 2,000 estimated claims can be halved by weeding through duplicates.

Gearing up

Under the regulation the Commission will pass the claims onto EFSA for scientific evaluation. EFSA has five months to assess the dossiers and pass on its verdict before a final decision is made by the Commission by 2010.

Earlier this month, NutraIngredients.com revealed how EFSA was planning to "significantly" beef-up resources to deal with what may be thousands of health claims passed to it for evaluation.

While the Commission is still unsure on exact numbers, some member states have said they are expecting thousands to come forward from industry.