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)
Date: 2008-10-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer information, food hygiene, food safety, foodstuff, labelling

29.10.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 285/9

DIRECTIVES

COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2008/100/EC

of 28 October 2008

amending Council Directive 90/496/EEC on nutrition labelling for

foodstuffs
recommended daily allowances, energy conversion factors and definitions

as

regards

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

regard

Having
of
24 September 1990 on nutrition labelling for foodstuffs (1),
and in particular Article 1(4)(a) and (j) and Article 5(2) thereof,

Council Directive

90/496/EEC

to

After consulting the European Food Safety Authority,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Directive 90/496/EEC specifies
defined.

that

fibre should be

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 of
the Council of 20 December 2006 on nutrition and
health claims made on foods (2).

reasons of

For
Community legislation that refers to that notion,
necessary to provide a definition of ‘fibre’.

clarity and coherence with other
it is

The definition of fibre should take into account relevant
work by the Codex Alimentarius and the statement
related to dietary fibre, expressed on the 6 July 2007,
by the European Food Safety Authority Scientific Panel
on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies.

Fibre has been traditionally consumed as plant material
and has one or more beneficial physiological effects such
as: decrease intestinal transit time, increase stool bulk, is
fermentable by colonic microflora, reduce blood total
cholesterol, reduce blood LDL cholesterol levels, reduce
post-prandial blood glucose, or reduce blood insulin
levels. Recent scientific evidence has shown that similar
beneficial physiological effects may be obtained from
other carbohydrate polymers that are not digestible and
not naturally occurring in the food as consumed.

(1) OJ L 276, 6.10.1990, p. 40.
(2) OJ L 12, 18.1.2007, p. 3.

Therefore it is appropriate that the definition of fibre
should include carbohydrate polymers with one or
more beneficial physiological effects.

The carbohydrate polymers of plant origin that meet the
definition of fibre may be closely associated in the plant
with lignin or other non-carbohydrate components such
as phenolic compounds, waxes, saponins, phytates, cutin,
phytosterols. These substances when closely associated
with carbohydrate polymers of plant origin and
extracted with the carbohydrate polymers for analysis
of
fibre may be considered as fibre. However, when
separated from the carbohydrate polymers and added
to a food these substances should not be considered as
fibre.

In order to take account of new scientific and techno­
logical developments, there is a need to amend the list of
energy conversion factors.

The FAO report of a technical workshop on food energy
— methods of analysis and conversion factors indicates
foods is
that 70 percent of
assumed to be fermentable. Therefore,
it is appropriate
that the average energy value for fibre should be 8 kJ/g
(2 kcal/g).

the fibre in traditional

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

Erythritol can be used in a wide variety of foods and its
use is, among others, as a replacement for nutrients such
as sugar where lower energy value is desired.

(10)

Erythritol is a polyol, and according to the current rules
as 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 inform
the reduced energy value of a
the consumer about
in its manu­
product achieved by the use of erythritol
facture. The Scientific Committee on Food in its opinion
on erythritol, expressed on 5 March 2003, noted that the
energy provided by erythritol was less than 0,9 kJ/g (less
than 0,2 kcal/g). Therefore it is appropriate to adopt a
suitable energy conversion factor for erythritol.

L 285/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.10.2008

(11)

(12)

The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC lists the vitamins
and minerals which may be declared as part of
the
nutrition labelling, specifies their
recommended daily
allowances (RDAs) and defines a rule of what constitutes
a significant amount. The purpose of this RDA list is to
provide values for nutrition labelling and the calculation
of what constitutes a significant amount.

The rule on significant amount as defined in the Annex
to Directive 90/496/EEC constitutes a reference in other
Community legislation,
in particular in Article 8(3) of
Directive 2002/46/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 10 June 2002 on the approximation
the Member States relating to food
of
the laws of
supplements (1),
in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No
1924/2006 and in Article 6(6) of Regulation (EC) No
1925/2006 of
and the
Council of 20 December 2006 on the addition of
vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances
to foods (2).

the European Parliament

(13)

The RDAs listed in the Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC
are based on the recommendation of
the FAO/WHO
expert consultation meeting in Helsinki in 1988.

(14)

(15)

In order to ensure coherence with other Community
legislation,
list of vitamins and minerals
and their RDAs should be updated in the light of
scientific developments since 1988.

the current

reference values

The Scientific Committee on Food in its opinion on the
for nutrition labelling,
revision of
included reference
expressed on 5 March 2003,
labelling values
the
to Directive
vitamins and minerals listed in Annex I
to Regulation (EC)
2002/46/EC and in Annex I
No 1925/2006.

for adults. This opinion covers

(16)

The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC should therefore be
amended accordingly.

(17)

The measures provided for
accordance with
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

in this Directive are in
Standing
the

opinion

the

of

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Directive 90/496/EEC is amended as follows:

Article 1

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 provisions
necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwith
communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions
and a correlation table between those provisions and this
Directive.

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 this
Directive.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a
reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member
States 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 in
the field covered by this Directive.

Article 3

(1) OJ L 183, 12.7.2002, p. 51.
(2) OJ L 404, 30.12.2006, p. 26.

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

29.10.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 285/11

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Article 4

Done at Brussels, 28 October 2008.

For the Commission

Androulla VASSILIOU
Member of the Commission

The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC is replaced by the following:

ANNEX I

‘ANNEX I

Vitamins and minerals which may be declared and their recommended daily allowances (RDAs)

Vitamin A (μg)
Vitamin D (μg)

Vitamin E (mg)
Vitamin K (μg)

Vitamin C (mg)

Thiamin (mg)

Riboflavin (mg)

Niacin (mg)

Vitamin B6 (mg)
Folic acid (μg)
Vitamin B12 (μg)
Biotin (μg)

Pantothenic acid (mg)

800

5

12

75

80

1,1

1,4

16

1,4

200

2,5

50

6

Chloride (mg)

Calcium (mg)

Phosphorus (mg)

Magnesium (mg)

Iron (mg)

Zinc (mg)

Copper (mg)

Manganese (mg)

Fluoride (mg)
Selenium (μg)
Chromium (μg)
Molybdenum (μg)
Iodine (μg)

800

800

700

375

14

10

1

2

3,5

55

40

50

150

Potassium (mg)

2 000

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.’

L 285/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.10.2008

The following Annex II is added to Directive 90/496/EEC:

ANNEX II

‘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.’