Outcome of a public consultation on the Draft Opinion of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA) on a guidance on the scientific requirements for health claims related to antioxidants, oxidative damage and cardiovascular health

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) carried out a public consultation to receive input from the scientific community and all interested parties on a draft guidance document on the scientific requirements for the substantiation of health claims related to antioxidants, oxidative damage and cardiovascular health, prepared by the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) and endorsed by the Panel for public consultation at its Plenary meeting on 23-25 March 2011. The guidance document is based on the experience gained with the evaluation of health claims, and is aimed at further assisting applicants in preparing and submitting their applications for the authorisation of health claims. The written public consultation for this document was open from 26 April 2011 to 31 August 2011. EFSA received comments from 57 interested parties including applicants for health claims, governmental and non governmental organisations, industry organisations and academia. EFSA and its NDA Panel wish to thank all stakeholders for their useful contributions. The current report summarises the outcome of the public consultation, including a brief summary of the comments received and of how the comments were addressed. The NDA Panel prepared an updated version of the guidance document taking into account the questions/comments received. The updated version was discussed and adopted at the NDA Plenary meeting on 24 November 2011, and is published in the EFSA Journal.