April 21 - Danone has confirmed it has temporarily withdrawn applications to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to make health claims for its products Actimel and Activia.
Agnes Berthet-d'Anthonay, spokeswoman for the French dairy and bottled water giant, said the withdrawal was due to a decision by the European food safety watchdog to hold a meeting with applicants on June 15 regarding recent developments on health claims.
The withdrawn claims, made under Article 13.5, are believed to relate to purported benefits in terms of improvements to digestive comfort and slow transit for Activia, and Actimel claims to strengthen the body’s natural defences.
Ms Berthet-d'Anthonay said: “We will resubmit the claims once we have a clearer idea of what the guidelines are”. She added that Danone was not alone in taking such action.
She said the company remained confidant about its claims, citing 24 studies on Actimel and 16 on Activia.
Products making health claims are key to Danone's strategy, particularly in its dairy division which accounted for more than half of the group's revenue in 2008.