Sunday Tribune (
Legal bid challenges EU food directive
By Rachel Andrews
A legal challenge to the forthcoming EU Directive on food supplements – which could result in 85% of supplements being taken off the shelves of Irish health food stores – is actively being considered by a UK-based health organisation. If the challenge is successful, it would result in the directive being overturned in all EU member states, including
The
“They are the only group of barristers who have been successful in overturning an EU directive so we are positive about the case,” said Dr Robert Verkerk, executive director of the
The case will be taken on constitutional grounds on the issue of proportionality. “The European Commission is not mean to be bringing about bans based on health grounds,” said Verkerk.
For example, the directive will bring about a ban on nutrients, included in around 5,000 different products, most of which are dietary supplements closest to food forms.
In other words, they provide the
Well-known food supplements that will be affected by the directive include Vitamin C and Vitamin B6.
These could either disappear from health store shelves completely, or their nutritional dosages will be rendered so low that consumers will have to buy much more of the product to receive the
“Approximately 85% of food supplements will be gone from this country,” said
“And nutrient levels of others will be drastically reduced. Eventually, it will also probably mean that the smaller companies who supply health stores with supplements won't be able to afford the costs anymore.”
According to Verkerk, the type of basic food supplements currently available in supermarkets or pharmacies are unlikely to be affected.
However, it is the specialist supplements, sold through health food stores, which will no longer be available.
“The EU legislators who drew up the legislation were trying to create a safe harbour for food supplements.
“But they have only created a safe harbour for basic food products,” said Verkerk.
The EU legislators did not fully understand the impact of what they had drawn up, he said.
The EU directive has already been passed into law in the
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