In accordance with the Regulation on Turkish Food Codex Nutrition Claims ("Regulation") published in the Official Gazette dated 20.04.2023 and numbered 32169, the issues regarding nutrition claims have been re-regulated.
Moreover, the Regulation on the Use of Health Claims in Foods and Food Supplements prepared by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, which sets out the rules on health claims, entered into force on the same day as this Regulation prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. With the entry into force of these new regulations, the Regulation of Turkish Food Codex Nutrition and Health Claims dated 2017 ("Repealed Regulation") which contained provisions on the subject was repealed. Therefore, it is aimed to provide ease of implementation by regulating the health and nutrition claims with two different regulations. Thus, the Regulation does not directly refer a definition of “health claims” unlike the Repealed Regulation.
This article targets the Regulation on Turkish Food Codex Nutrition Claims and the regulation regarding the Use of Health Claims in Foods and Food Supplements will be discussed in a separate article.
1. General Provisions
The Regulation stipulates that nutrition claims can be used in the labelling, promotion and advertisement of foods placed on the market and the basic principles during this use. Are regulated. Accordingly, the use of nutrition claims cannot be: (i) ambiguous, inaccurate or misleading (ii) in a way that cause doubt about the nutritional adequacy or reliability of other foods; (iii) in a way that support or encourage excessive consumption of a certain food (iv) in a way that state, assert or imply that a varied and balanced diet cannot provide adequate amounts of nutrients in general and may cause concern in the consumer, and (v) in a way that refers to changes in bodily functions through written, pictorial, graphic or symbolic representations.
Furthermore, a trademark or proper name is included in the labelling, presentation or advertisement of food and may be interpreted as a nutrition claim, it may be used provided that the relevant nutrition claim conditions in the Regulation are met and the relevant claim is also made. However, the Ministry determines the use of equivalent claims that do not change or strengthen the meaning of the nutrition claim expressions included in the labelling, presentation or advertisement of food.
2. General Conditions
The Regulation also lists the conditions for the use of nutrition claims. However, it should be noted that these general conditions are the same as the Repealed Regulation and have only been repeated specifically for nutrition claims.
3. Scientific Verification
As in the Repealed Regulation, the Regulation also includes scientific verification and nutritional claims for declarations. According to these provisions, nutrition claims must be based on and verified by generally accepted scientific evidence. Within this scope, the food business operator who makes a nutritional claim must prove that the claim complies with the provisions of the Regulation, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry may request the food operator supplying the product to the market to submit all relevant information and documents showing that the claims comply with the Regulation.
4. Nutrition Claims
Lastly, the Regulation also includes comparative nutrition claims as in the Repealed Regulation. Accordingly, comparative nutrition claims, subject to the provisions of the Law on Protection of the Consumer, can only be made between foods with the same product name in the same category, taking into account product variety. This claim must be made for the same amount of food and the difference in the amount of a nutrient in the food and/or the energy value of the food must be specified.
The Regulation, which includes provisions that are similar to the Repealed Regulation regarding nutrition claims, aims to prevent problems arising in practice by separating the regulations on nutrition and health claims in a way to be specific to each other.
You can access the Regulation from this link.