Introduction
Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 outlines the rules for nutrition and health claims (NHCs), permitted in the European Union (EU)(1).  Previously, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) completed work on the compliance of NHCs with Regulation 1924/2006 on yoghurts(2). Potential non-compliant rates of 1.5% for nutrition claims and 74% for health claims were reported. The study highlighted further research in this area was needed to understand the overall rates of NHCs compliance of food products on the Irish market. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the compliance of NHCs made on delicatessen meats and similar (DM) and bread products (BP) on the Irish market.
Methods
Food product label and composition information was collected from the Irish market in 2021 as part of the EU Joint Action Best-ReMaP project. The inclusion criteria for this study were the presence of an Irish address and NHCs on the product label. Based on these criteria, 14.6% of DM and 47.9% of BP were eligible for inclusion in this study. A representative sample of 100 products per category were randomly selected, using the RAND Excel function, and compliance was assessed against Regulation 1924/2006. NHCs were considered either compliant, non-compliant or potentially non-compliant. Where definitive compliance could not be established using the Regulation, a claim was deemed potentially non-compliant. Analysis was conducted using Microsoft Excel.
Results
There were 205 claims identified on the 100 DM products. The compliance rate of these claims was 85.4% (n=175) and the non-compliance rate was 14.6% (n=30). Of the 30 non-compliant claims observed across 9 DM products, 28 of these were non-compliant as the amount of the claimed nutrient was not labelled. The other 2 non-compliant claims were general health claims which were not linked to an authorised health claim. There were 293 claims on the 100 BP with a compliance rate of 85.3% (n=250), a non-compliance rate of 12.9% (n=38) and a potentially non-compliant rate of 1.7% (n=5). The 43 non-compliant and potentially non-compliant claims were observed across 23 products. Most (n=24) of which were due to non-compliant general health claims. The overall compliance of products was 91% (n=91) for DM and 77% (n=77) for BP.
Conclusion
Overall, this study demonstrates that there is a high rate of compliance for nutrition claims on DM and BP while identifying some key areas of non-compliance in health claims. This work provides important information for the FSAI as it identifies the issues faced by businesses in complying with the legislation and assists in understanding what compliance building resources are needed. Future work in this area is needed to assess the level of compliance of NHCs on other food categories on the Irish market.
1. European Commission Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 [Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02006R1924-20141213]
2. O’Mahony S, Creane RJ, Philpott E et al. (2020) Proc Nutr Soc 79(OCE2), E574

Introduction
Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 outlines the rules for nutrition and health claims (NHCs), permitted in the European Union (EU)(1).  Previously, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) completed work on the compliance of NHCs with Regulation 1924/2006 on yoghurts(2). Potential non-compliant rates of 1.5% for nutrition claims and 74% for health claims were reported. The study highlighted further research in this area was needed to understand the overall rates of NHCs compliance of food products on the Irish market. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the compliance of NHCs made on delicatessen meats and similar (DM) and bread products (BP) on the Irish market.
Methods
Food product label and composition information was collected from the Irish market in 2021 as part of the EU Joint Action Best-ReMaP project. The inclusion criteria for this study were the presence of an Irish address and NHCs on the product label. Based on these criteria, 14.6% of DM and 47.9% of BP were eligible for inclusion in this study. A representative sample of 100 products per category were randomly selected, using the RAND Excel function, and compliance was assessed against Regulation 1924/2006. NHCs were considered either compliant, non-compliant or potentially non-compliant. Where definitive compliance could not be established using the Regulation, a claim was deemed potentially non-compliant. Analysis was conducted using Microsoft Excel.
Results
There were 205 claims identified on the 100 DM products. The compliance rate of these claims was 85.4% (n=175) and the non-compliance rate was 14.6% (n=30). Of the 30 non-compliant claims observed across 9 DM products, 28 of these were non-compliant as the amount of the claimed nutrient was not labelled. The other 2 non-compliant claims were general health claims which were not linked to an authorised health claim. There were 293 claims on the 100 BP with a compliance rate of 85.3% (n=250), a non-compliance rate of 12.9% (n=38) and a potentially non-compliant rate of 1.7% (n=5). The 43 non-compliant and potentially non-compliant claims were observed across 23 products. Most (n=24) of which were due to non-compliant general health claims. The overall compliance of products was 91% (n=91) for DM and 77% (n=77) for BP.
Conclusion
Overall, this study demonstrates that there is a high rate of compliance for nutrition claims on DM and BP while identifying some key areas of non-compliance in health claims. This work provides important information for the FSAI as it identifies the issues faced by businesses in complying with the legislation and assists in understanding what compliance building resources are needed. Future work in this area is needed to assess the level of compliance of NHCs on other food categories on the Irish market.
1. European Commission Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 [Available at: [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02006R1924-20141213](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02006R1924-20141213)]
2. O’Mahony S, Creane RJ, Philpott E et al. (2020) _Proc Nutr Soc_ 79(OCE2), E574

OC66 - “Are ham sandwiches as good for you as they say?” A review of the compliance of nutrition and health claims on breads and deli meats on the Irish market 

Unique to the new Congress (previously the Summer Conference) is that you will have greater opportunity to engage with more nutrition science than ever before. In 2024 the core programme will be delivered by the Irish Section of The Nutrition Society, supported by the Science Committee. The theme of these symposia will be ‘new data – focused approaches and challenges’. Outside of the core programme you will have the chance to hear the latest research from the Society’s partner organisations, universities, the private sector and more, on a diverse range of research.