Botanicals and the Regulatory Framework on Food Supplements in the European Union: a Tricky Relationship

Titolo Rivista AGRICOLTURA ISTITUZIONI MERCATI
Autori/Curatori Pamela Lattanzi
Anno di pubblicazione 2017 Fascicolo 2015/2-3
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 21 P. 111-131 Dimensione file 214 KB
DOI 10.3280/AIM2015-002008
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In the EU and many other countries (China, Japan, Usa, Canada, etc.), there is a growing interest in producing and consuming health food products. Botanicals (e.g. plants and preparations made from plants, algae, fungi or lichens) represent a large segment of the health food category and their regulation presents several critical issues due to their complex nature and multifaceted usage. This article therefore gives an overview of the most important issues related to the regulation of botanicals in the food supplements sector. After a brief description of the regulatory status of botanical based foodstuffs, it outlines the legal framework of botanical food supplements, taking into consideration the interferences between the medicinal domain and the food sector in the classification of borderline botanical products and the issue of the safety assessment of botanicals. In the final part, it deals with the thorny question of the health claims made on such products.

In Europa e in molti altri Paesi (Cina, Giappone, Usa, Canada ecc.), vi è un crescente interesse per la produzione e il consumo di alimenti salutistici. I prodotti botanici (cioè piante e preparati ottenuti da piante, alghe, funghi o licheni) costituiscono un vasto settore di tale categoria di alimenti e presentano molteplici profili critici in conseguenza della loro complessa natura e del loro poliedrico impiego. L’articolo intende offrire una ricostruzione dei più rilevanti aspetti della regolamentazione dei prodotti botanici nel settore degli integratori alimentari. Dopo una breve descrizione della disciplina concernente gli alimenti a base di sostanze vegetali, delinea il quadro giuridico dei prodotti botanici quali integratori alimentari, tenendo in considerazione le interferenze tra il settore farmaceutico e quello alimentare nella classificazione dei prodotti botanici di frontiera e gli aspetti attinenti alla loro sicurezza. Infine, si sofferma sulla spinosa questione delle dichiarazioni sulla salute apposte sulle etichette di tali prodotti.

Keywords:Prodotto botanico, alimento salutistico, integratore alimentare; prodotto borderline, sicurezza, etichettatura

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Pamela Lattanzi, Botanicals and the Regulatory Framework on Food Supplements in the European Union: a Tricky Relationship in "AGRICOLTURA ISTITUZIONI MERCATI " 2-3/2015, pp 111-131, DOI: 10.3280/AIM2015-002008