Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle

Undersecretary, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning and welcome to EFSA’s conference on Nutrition and Health Claims.

This is indeed an important event for EFSA and forms part of EFSA’s increasing activities in the field of nutrition with the emphasis today on nutrition and health claims. In particular I am looking forward to lively discussions on the issues of nutrient profiles and the substantiation of claims on which there are many opinions and ideas. I am indeed very grateful to the many experts from all over the world who have come to this conference to share their knowledge and experience with EFSA. I would particularly like to welcome Undersecretary Patta for agreeing to open this important Conference.

EFSA is of course occupied with many matters in the field of nutrition through the work of its scientific expert Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Nevertheless I am committed to increasing the activities of EFSA in this field - not only through the activities linked to the implementation of the newly adopted Regulation on claims. The Management Board of EFSA has identified the development of EFSA’s role in nutrition as a key priority and I am personally eager to address this work in my role as EFSA’s Executive Director.

Europe faces a major public health challenge linked to diet, nutrition and lifestyle. Rates of obesity and overweight in adult have increased across Europe in the last 20 years. Of great concern, is that the rate of childhood obesity has increased sharply : 1 in 5 is overweight which means 14 million children, 3 million of which are obese. Scientific evidence clearly supports the links between the increasing problems of chronic diseases and conditions such as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cancer and osteoporosis. EFSA has to take its place as the authoritative European voice on food safety and nutrition in providing the scientific basis for activities at the EU level to combat this problem. To achieve this purpose, we will need close cooperation with Member States and an open dialogue with our stakeholders, Consumers, Retailers and Industry. EFSA cannot act in this respect on its own – there are many key players in this complex picture. Public authorities at national and EU level, have an important role to play as do industry, consumers, retailers, the scientific community, if we are to successfully address this difficult and important public health challenge.

European and national policy makers need to have access to the best scientific opinion, data and other information so that they are able to develop the best strategies to combat this growing problem. EFSA is uniquely placed at the European level to provide the scientific knowledge and information to guide decision makers in the development of appropriate risk management policies and specific actions to target the health problems associated with nutrition, diet and life styles. In this respect, through working closely with national authorities EFSA will be able to provide a broad overview of the scientific elements that affect the European picture.

EFSA is already active in providing scientific information to aid policy makers in this debate. For example through the work of the EFSA expert Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies we are currently working on setting Population Reference Intake levels for nutrients and certain other essential dietary components which will eventually lead to the establishment for adults and children of energy requirements needed to ensure healthy body weights and prevent obesity. EFSA will also be looking at determining recommended intakes of carbohydrates, fibre and fats – setting recommended levels for maintaining healthy body weights and reducing risks of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer. We will also planning further work in looking at recommended intakes of vitamins and minerals, and if appropriate, other essential substances with a physiological effect.

EFSA is therefore capable and able to rise to the new challenges before us and in this respect I have identified three key areas:

Firstly, EFSA will increase its assistance to policy makers at EU and national level in developing strategies and setting diet-related public health targets. This will in particular be achieved by providing policy makers with the latest and most authoritative scientific advice, underpinning and supporting European Community activities. To this end, EFSA will continue to participate actively to the European Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, in order to provide scientific input and guidance on diet and nutritional matters.

Secondly EFSA is in a unique position to collect and analyse dietary intake data from all EU countries and thus provide an EU picture. In January 2007, EFSA will organize with Member States the first meeting of the national food consumption database managers. This EU-wide network will enable us to set up in 2007 a European database, including dietary intake data for adults and children for 16 categories of food. This first work will be of great value both for all those who are dealing with nutrition in Europe and for exposure assessment.

And thirdly, EFSA will develop its scientific work related to the development of accurate and meaningful information on the relationship between diet and health in order to help consumers to make healthy dietary choices.

To this end today’s conference is an important milestone in further developing EFSA’s thinking on nutrition and health claims. I welcome the opportunity of this conference to have an in depth dialogue between experts from scientific institutes, international organizations, governmental bodies, industry, consumers and other stakeholders to look at the issue of claims and in particular to look at the development of scientific advice on nutrient profiles and the scientific substantiation of claims. EFSA and its Panels on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies are already planning and developing this work and speakers following me will address this in detail.

This conference has attracted enormous attention from experts eager to participate from all over the world. I have therefore decided to web stream the final morning of the conference so that a broader public may watch, live via the internet, the final conclusions and outcomes of the conference. There will also be further opportunities to debate these issues with our stakeholders and interested parties in the context of other conferences and meetings and through our Stakeholder Consultative Platform.

I would like to take this opportunity therefore to welcome you once again to Bologna. I look forward not only to the presentations and debates over the next three days but also with great anticipation to the conclusions and outcomes of the workshops that are planned for tomorrow. I am please that so may eminent and expert participants have agreed to participate and I wish you every success.