Food and Beverages
12 Food and Beverages
Advertisers must ensure that their advertisements comply with all relevant legislation, in particular The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 and The Food Safety Act 1990. Advertisers should also meet the criteria of the Food Advisory Committee’s guidelines
On 1 July 2007, a new and important regulation governing nutrition and health claims for foods came into force. The regulation is complex and mandatory. BCAP encourages broadcasters to take advice on the effect of the regulation and to consult the Food Standards Agency’s Guidance to Compliance with Regulation (EC) 1924/2006 on Nutrition and Health Claims on Foods, which is available at http://www.food.gov.uk
12.1 Diet and lifestyle
Advertisements must not disparage good dietary practice and must avoid anything likely to encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle, especially in children. Advertisements must not discourage selection of foods, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, that generally accepted dietary opinion recommends should form a greater part of the average diet.
This rule does not preclude responsible advertising for any products including those that should be eaten only in moderation. Claims of nutritional or health benefits should be considered in the context of a balanced diet or lifestyle or both.
Nutrition or health claims must be supported by sound scientific evidence. No nutrition or health claim may be used in food or soft drink product advertisements targeted directly at pre-school or primary school children; that prohibition does not apply to advertisements for fresh fruit or fresh vegetables. Generalised claims such as ‘goodness’ or ‘wholesome’ must not exaggerate the nutritional or health benefit of a food product or an ingredient. Reference to the properties of an ingredient must not give a misleading impression of the properties of the whole product. The scientific meaning of the word “energy”, calorific value, must not be confused with its colloquial meaning of physical vigour.
Advertisements must not encourage or condone excessive consumption of any food.
Particular attention should be paid to the requirements of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, especially the prohibited and restricted claims set out in Schedule 6. Guidelines that offer best-practice advice for nutritional claims and healthy eating are available. For example, The Food Standard Agency’s Guidelines for the Use of Certain Nutrition Claims in Food Labelling and Advertising include a recommendation to avoid “% fat free” claims (issued November 1999).
12.2 Dietary Supplements
a) Advertisements must not state or imply that dietary supplements, including vitamins or minerals, are necessary to avoid dietary deficiency or can enhance normal good health;
b) Advertisements for dietary supplements must establish clearly those groups of people likely to benefit from the advertised supplement. Groups that might benefit include: people on a restricted dietary regimen; those eating unsupplemented, low food-energy diets; women who are planning to become pregnant or are pregnant or lactating; growing children and some people over 50.