Outcome of a public consultation on the draft guidance of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) on the scientific requirements for health claims related to the immune system, the gastrointestinal tract and defence against pathogenic microorganisms

EFSA carried out public consultations to receive input from the scientific community and all interested parties, first on a discussion paper on the revision of the guidance on the scientific requirements for health claims related to gut and immune function (from 18 June to 10 September 2014), and subsequently on an updated version of the draft guidance on the scientific requirements for health claims related to the immune system, the gastrointestinal tract and defence against pathogenic microorganisms (from 9 February to 23 March 2015), prepared by the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA Panel). EFSA and its NDA Panel wish to thank all stakeholders for their contributions. The current report summarises the outcome of the public consultation on the draft guidance and includes a summary of the comments received and of how the comments were addressed. The NDA Panel prepared an updated version of the Guidance on the scientific requirements for health claims related to the immune system, the gastrointestinal tract and defence against pathogenic microorganisms taking into account the comments received. The Opinion was discussed and adopted at the NDA Plenary meeting on 10 December 2015, and is published in the EFSA Journal.