Health claims within the Swedish Code

“Functional food” continues to be a highly interesting and much debated issue, with regard to scientific support, business potential, and importance for health and well-being. Problems with delimiting the concept can be overcome by regarding functional foods as foods with health claims. Various types of claim then have to be defened, as well as requirements for their scientific documentation. Such definitions are currently emerging internationally within Codex Alimentarius and within the European Commission. Guidelines on scientific substantiation have been issued within the Council of Europe, and the development of criteria for the scientific support of claims is focused on within the EC Fifth Framework concerted action project “Process for the Assessment of Scientific Support for Claims” (PASSCLAIM). The Swedish Code on health claims, effective since 1990 regarding generic claims in two steps and extended in 2001 to “product-specific physiological claims”, is in line with these developments.