Paris (AFP)
"Detox" juice, "source of vitamin" ... The regulations concerning the communication on the health impact of certain foodstuffs are not always respected, alert Monday the Repression of fraud (DGCCRF) following a study conducted in 2019, which in particular noted a lot of abuse on the internet.
Concerned about "compliance by professionals with European regulations relating to health claims", the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) noted an average anomaly rate of 44% when checking "more than 300 establishments".
"The differences are however significant between physical establishments (shops, production sites, etc.), which display an anomaly rate of 38%, and establishments selling their products on the internet, whose anomaly rate is much higher. high (69%) ", explains the Repression of fraud in a press release Monday.
Note that the rate is high because the survey "targeted the products most likely to carry health claims: infusions, teas, chocolates, breakfast cereals, bee products", explains the instance.
The most common "abnormalities" are the "presence of therapeutic claims", for example "is used during a cold";
the presence of "unauthorized health claims" or "not included in the positive lists of permitted claims";
or the use of general claims, for example the terms “superfruit” or “detox”.
The DGCCRF still evokes "a failure to respect the wording of the claims", citing as an example: "vitamin C increases immune defenses" instead of the authorized claim "Vitamin C contributes to the normal functioning of the immune system".
"The anomalies observed gave rise to the drafting of 60 warnings, 71 injunctions and 17 reports", further specifies the DGCCRF.
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