Botanical Food Supplements Workshop
3rd Annual Workshop on Botanical Food Supplements
The third annual workshop on botanical food supplements was organized by the European Botanical Forum in Brussels on 11 December 2007.
The workshop was attended by some 35 experts from national authorities, academia, and industry. Amongst the speakers were Mrs. Pilar Rodriguez-Iglesia and Mr. Bernard Bottex, both from EFSA, Mr. Vaclav Bazata of the Czech Plant Commission, Prof. Ekrem Sezik of the Turkish Plant commission and Mr. Luc Delmulle, Prof. Arnold Vlietinck and Mrs. Solange Vinckier of the Belgian Plant commission.
Amongst the participants were authorities and academia from France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, The Netherlands, Croatia.
The list of attendees can be found here.
The workshop covered three sessions:
- The borderline between medicinal and food use of botanicals
- The safety assessment of botanicals
- The claims substantiation
The presentations of the speakers can be found here:
Session 1: Borderline between medicinal and food use of botanicals
J. Savigny (Keller and Heckman LLP) - The impact of the medicinal product Directive on the marketing of food products
P. Coppens (European Botanical Forum) - The further harmonisation of other substances, including botanicals under food law
A. Vlietinck (University of Antwerp) - Activities of the Herbal Medicinal Product Committee on traditional herbal medicinal products and its consequences for food supplements
T. Büttner (Forstmann Kleist Büttner Krüger) - Recent judgments of the European Court of Justice
S. Vynckier (Belgian Plant Commission) - National models for regulating botanical food supplements: Belgium
E. Sezik (Turkish Plant Commission) - National models for regulating botanical food supplements: Turkey
Session 2: Safety assessment of botanicals
B. Bottex (European Food Safety Authority) - EFSA opinion on the safety assessment of botanicals
L. Delmulle (Council of Europe Ad Hoc Group on Food Supplements) - Council of Europe activities on botanical food supplements
V. Bazata (Czech Plant Commission) - Development of a European-wide negative list of botanicals
Session 3: Safety assessment of botanicals
P. Viner (European Botanical Forum) - Development of the article 13 list of botanicals by the industry federations
P. Coppens (European Botanical Forum) – Scientific substantiation of health claims
P. Rodriguez Iglesias (European Food Safety Authority) - Perspective of EFSA in relation to the assessment of claims for botanicals