DIRECTIVES
COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2008/100/EC
of 28 October 2008
amending Council Directive 90/496/EEC on nutrition labelling for foodstuffs as regards
recommended daily allowances, energy conversion factors and definitions
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,
Having regard to Council Directive 90/496/EEC of
24 September 1990 on nutrition labelling for foodstuffs (1),
and in particular Article 1(4)(a) and (j) and Article 5(2) thereof,
After consulting the European Food Safety Authority,
Whereas:
(1) Directive 90/496/EEC specifies that fibre should be
defined.
(2) Conditions for nutrition claims such as ‘source of fibre ’
or‘high fibre ’are laid down in the Annex to Regulation
(EC) No 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and ofthe Council of 20 December 2006 on nutrition andhealth claims made on foods (
2).
(3) For reasons of clarity and coherence with otherCommunity legislation that refers to that notion, it isnecessary to provide a definition of ‘fibre ’.
(4) The definition of fibre should take into account relevant
work by the Codex Alimentarius and the statementrelated to dietary fibre, expressed on the 6 July 2007,by the European Food Safety Authority Scientific Panelon Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies.
(5) Fibre has been traditionally consumed as plant materialand has one or more beneficial physiological effects suchas: decrease intestinal transit time, increase stool bulk, isfermentable by colonic microflora, reduce blood totalcholesterol, reduce blood LDL cholesterol levels, reducepost-prandial blood glucose, or reduce blood insulinlevels. Recent scientific evidence has shown that similarbeneficial physiological effects may be obtained fromother carbohydrate polymers that are not digestible andnot naturally occurring in the food as consumed.Therefore it is appropriate that the definition of fibre
should include carbohydrate polymers with one or
more beneficial physiological effects.
(6) The carbohydrate polymers of plant origin that meet thedefinition of fibre may be closely associated in the plantwith lignin or other non-carbohydrate components suchas phenolic compounds, waxes, saponins, phytates, cutin,phytosterols. These substances when closely associatedwith carbohydrate polymers of plant origin andextracted with the carbohydrate polymers for analysis
of fibre may be considered as fibre. However, when
separated from the carbohydrate polymers and addedto a food these substances should not be considered asfibre.
(7) In order to take account of new scientific and techno­logical developments, there is a need to amend the list ofenergy conversion factors.
(8) The FAO report of a technical workshop on food energy—methods of analysis and conversion factors indicates
that 70 percent of the fibre in traditional foods isassumed to be fermentable. Therefore, it is appropriatethat the average energy value for fibre should be 8 kJ/g(2 kcal/g).
(9) Erythritol can be used in a wide variety of foods and itsuse is, among others, as a replacement for nutrients suchas sugar where lower energy value is desired.
(10) Erythritol is a polyol, and according to the current rulesas provided for in Article 5(1) of Directive 90/496/EEC,its energy would be calculated using the conversion
factor for polyols, namely 10 kJ/g (2,4 kcal/g). Using
this energy conversion factor would not fully informthe consumer about the reduced energy value of aproduct achieved by the use of erythritol in its manu­facture. The Scientific Committee on Food in its opinionon erythritol, expressed on 5 March 2003, noted that theenergy provided by erythritol was less than 0,9 kJ/g (lessthan 0,2 kcal/g). Therefore it is appropriate to adopt asuitable energy conversion factor for erythritol.EN 29.10.2008 Official Journal of the European Union L 285/9
(1) OJ L 276, 6.10.1990, p. 40.
(2) OJ L 12, 18.1.2007, p. 3.(11) The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC lists the vitamins
and minerals which may be declared as part of thenutrition labelling, specifies their recommended dailyallowances (RDAs) and defines a rule of what constitutesa significant amount. The purpose of this RDA list is toprovide values for nutrition labelling and the calculationof what constitutes a significant amount.
(12) The rule on significant amount as defined in the Annexto Directive 90/496/EEC constitutes a reference in otherCommunity legislation, in particular in Article 8(3) ofDirective 2002/46/EC of the European Parliament andof the Council of 10 June 2002 on the approximationof the laws of the Member States relating to foodsupplements (
1), in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No
1924/2006 and in Article 6(6) of Regulation (EC) No1925/2006 of the European Parliament and theCouncil of 20 December 2006 on the addition ofvitamins and minerals and of certain other substances
to foods (
2).
(13) The RDAs listed in the Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC
are based on the recommendation of the FAO/WHOexpert consultation meeting in Helsinki in 1988.
(14) In order to ensure coherence with other Community
legislation, the current list of vitamins and minerals
and their RDAs should be updated in the light ofscientific developments since 1988.
(15) The Scientific Committee on Food in its opinion on therevision of reference values for nutrition labelling,expressed on 5 March 2003, included referencelabelling values for adults. This opinion covers thevitamins and minerals listed in Annex I to Directive2002/46/EC and in Annex I to Regulation (EC)No 1925/2006.
(16) The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC should therefore beamended accordingly.
(17) The measures provided for in this Directive are inaccordance with the opinion of the Standing
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Directive 90/496/EEC is amended as follows:1. In Article 1(4)(j) the following sentence is added:
‘The definition of the material and if necessary the methods
of analysis shall be included in Annex II; ’;
2. The following indents are added in Article 5(1):
‘—fibre 2 kcal/g —8 kJ/g
—erythritol 0 kcal/g —0 kJ/g. ’;
3. The Annex is replaced by the text in Annex I to this
Directive;
4. The text in Annex II to this Directive is added.
Article 2
1. Member States shall bring into force by 31 October 2009
at the latest, the laws, regulations and administrative provisionsnecessary to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwithcommunicate to the Commission the text of those provisionsand a correlation table between those provisions and thisDirective.
They shall apply those provisions in such a way as to prohibit,
with effect from 31 October 2012, the trade in products which
do not comply with Directive 90/496/EEC, as amended by thisDirective.
When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such areference on the occasion of their official publication. MemberStates shall determine how such reference is to be made.
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the
text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt inthe field covered by this Directive.
Article 3
This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .EN L 285/10 Official Journal of the European Union 29.10.2008
(1) OJ L 183, 12.7.2002, p. 51.
(2) OJ L 404, 30.12.2006, p. 26.Article 4
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 28 October 2008.
For the Commission
Androulla VASSILIOU
Member of the Commission
ANNEX I
The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC is replaced by the following:
‘ANNEX I
Vitamins and minerals which may be declared and their recommended daily allowances (RDAs)
Vitamin A ( μg) 800
Vitamin D ( μg) 5
Vitamin E (mg) 12Vitamin K ( μg) 75
Vitamin C (mg) 80Thiamin (mg) 1,1Riboflavin (mg) 1,4Niacin (mg) 16Vitamin B6 (mg) 1,4Folic acid ( μg) 200
Vitamin B12 ( μg) 2,5
Biotin ( μg) 50
Pantothenic acid (mg) 6Potassium (mg) 2 000Chloride (mg) 800
Calcium (mg) 800Phosphorus (mg) 700Magnesium (mg) 375Iron (mg) 14Zinc (mg) 10Copper (mg) 1Manganese (mg) 2Fluoride (mg) 3,5Selenium ( μg) 55
Chromium ( μg) 40
Molybdenum ( μg) 50
Iodine ( μg) 150
As a rule, 15 % of the recommended allowance specified in this Annex supplied by 100 g or 100 ml or per package if the package contains only a
single portion should be taken into consideration in deciding what constitutes a significant amount. ’EN 29.10.2008 Official Journal of the European Union L 285/11ANNEX II
The following Annex II is added to Directive 90/496/EEC:
‘ANNEX II
Definition of the material constituting fibre and methods of analysis as referred to in Article 1(4)(j)
Definition of the material constituting fibre
For the purposes of this Directive “fibre ”means carbohydrate polymers with three or more monomeric units, which are
neither digested nor absorbed in the human small intestine and belong to the following categories:
—edible carbohydrate polymers naturally occurring in the food as consumed;
—edible carbohydrate polymers which have been obtained from food raw material by physical, enzymatic or chemical
means and which have a beneficial physiological effect demonstrated by generally accepted scientific evidence;
—edible synthetic carbohydrate polymers which have a beneficial physiological effect demonstrated by generally
accepted scientific evidence. ’EN L 285/12 Official Journal of the European Union 29.10.2008