Public Health Nutrition: 13(5), 704–711 doi:10.1017/S1368980009991613 A study of nutrition and health claims – a snapshot of what’s on the Irish market Fiona Lalor 1, *, Jean Kennedy 1 , Mary AT Flynn 2 and Patrick G Wall 1 1 School of Public Health and Population Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Republic of Ireland: 2 Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Submitted 10 March 2009: Accepted 21 August 2009: First published online 28 September 2009 Abstract Objective: To examine the use of nutrition and health claims on packaged foods commonly eaten in Ireland. Design: An assessment of the labels of packaged food products that are com- monly eaten in Ireland to determine the level of use of nutrition and health claims. Where present, the exact text of the claims as observed was recorded for seventeen different food categories and the claims categorised in accordance with EU Regulation 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods. Setting: Four retailers in Dublin, Ireland. Results: Of the foods surveyed, 47?3 % carried a nutrition claim and 17?8 % carried a health claim. Frozen fruit & vegetables and Breakfast cereals were the food categories with the highest proportion of nutrition claims. The most widespread nutrition claim was that referring to ‘fat’ and, within this group, the most com- monly used text was ‘low fat’. The largest category of health claims observed in the present survey was general health claims. Claims referring to the digestive system were the most common followed by claims that a product will ‘lower/ reduce/regulate your cholesterol’. Yoghurt & yoghurt drinks was the food cate- gory with the highest proportion of health claims, of which improving or boosting the digestive system was the most common. Conclusions: The use of nutrition and health claims on the Irish market is widespread. EU Regulation 1924/2006 requires monitoring of the market for these types of claims. The current study could provide baseline data for the food industry and regulators to monitor the development of this market in the future. Keywords Nutrition claims Health claims Food labelling European Food Safety Authority Nutrition and health claims on food packaging are used by the food and drink industry to inform consumers of a health benefit that a product may have. Claims such as ‘this will boost your immune system’ or ‘lowers choles- terol’ or even very simple claims such as ‘this product is low in fat’ are widespread on supermarket shelves. Roe et al. (1) examined perceptions of the healthfulness of func- tional foods and found that prior judgement about a food product tends to override any claim information provided on the label. In general, consumers see products that are intrinsically healthy, such as yoghurt, cereals, bread and juice, as credible carriers of functional messages (2) . Traditionally these sorts of statements were found on food groups such as yoghurts or breakfast cereals, pri- marily because they are considered inherently healthy (3) . In recent times, however, the existence of nutrition and health claims on packs has been spread across a much wider range of food groups. Limited data exist about new products within the market, but it was estimated that 305 products were launched in the functional food sector in Germany between 1999 and 2000, with soft drinks, confectionery, dairy and bakery representing the four largest categories of functional food innovation during that period (4) . While there can be professional scepti- cism (5) about the role of these products in the market- place, it cannot be denied that the consumer is showing increasing interest in the purchase of products which could provide solutions to dietary problems or go some way towards preventing problems before they arise (6) . It is therefore becoming increasingly important that the use of these functional foods on the marketplace is con- trolled to ensure that false or ambiguous claims are not made and that consumers are not being misled. In order to address this responsibility, wide-ranging regulations on the use of nutrition and health claims have recently been introduced in Europe. Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims (7) was published in late December 2006 and categorises claims as either ‘nutrition claims’ or ‘health claims’. A nutrition claim is one which states that a food has particular beneficial nutritional composition, e.g. ‘high in fibre’ or ‘low fat’. The Annex of *Corresponding author: Email Fiona.lalor@ucd.ie r The Authors 2009