ESSNA calls on policymakers to support sports nutrition, EIT announces 2020 investments

05 Dec 2019 --- The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) is calling on policymakers to aid the sports nutrition industry. This includes achieving good health for an aging population, placing sport and healthy diets at the core of the EU and having safe products for healthy consumers. This is detailed in ESSNA’s manifesto aimed at the new European Commission (EC), which has been fully operational since the start of this month.

The manifesto also comes with the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT)’s announcement that next year it will invest in Knowledge and Innovation Communities across Europe – including €85.1 million for health and €55.1 million in food.

“ESSNA welcomes all investments in the key combination of knowledge and food. Sports nutrition is about understanding your body and knowing how best to tailor your supplements to ensure a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. It’s encouraging to see the EU take a similar stance to nutrition and the food industry as a whole. More needs to be done to achieve this objective, so any steps toward that direction will be welcomed by the sports nutrition industry,” Dr. Adam Carey, ESSNA Chair, tells NutritionInsight.

EIT’s investment will step up activities for entrepreneurs, innovators and students, including business creation and acceleration services, entrepreneurial educational programs and innovation-driven research projects. Across a variety of sectors (including those unrelated to food and health), the EIT community plans to power 1,000 start-ups and scale-ups and launch more than 360 products and services. It is predicted that this will ultimately raise over €400 million in external capital. However, ESSNA is still calling on the EC to take the following steps: 

• Acknowledge the dietary needs of sportspeople in food law.
• Facilitate consumer choice through accurate, informative and harmonized labeling.
• Promote efforts to tackle doping.
• Tackle food fraud and non-compliance online and offline.
• Support and promoting innovation.
• Work towards a fair and fully harmonized single market. 
• Ensure a fair and well-informed online environment.
• Move towards a greener sustainable sports industry.

“The role of public health is of the utmost importance to tackle these challenges. The sports nutrition industry needs to be supported in its actions to promote balanced diets and healthy lifestyles by the relevant public health authorities. This is also to ensure that consumers can make informed choices about the products they purchase,” continues Carey. 

Policy is an important part of the sports nutrition sector, as many aspects of the sports nutrition sector are regulated by EU law.The role of policy
Policy is an important part of the sports nutrition sector, as many aspects of the sports nutrition sector are regulated by EU law. In particular, the sports nutrition sector is regulated under the General Food Law, of which ESSNA is fully supportive, Carey states. 

“The EU has taken more action in recent years with world-class legislation to make sports nutrition products healthier and safer for consumers. ESSNA supports these efforts, particularly in light of increasing rates of obesity and noncommunicable diseases across Europe. Having said that, some adaptations are needed, and ESSNA is working to make sure that the needs of sportspeople are taken into account appropriately in legislation,” he adds.

The industry still struggles with several regulatory issues, such as nutrition and health claims that limit sports nutrition companies’ ability to explain the benefits of their products, according to Carey. Possible contamination or inaccurate labeling means that athletes must remain vigilant to ensure that they remain compliant with anti-doping rules. 

In addition, to allow competitive innovation for EU formulations, the ability to use new foods, nutrients and ingredients that may have benefits should become less restrictive and regulations such as the Novel Food legislation must be more efficient and pragmatic, he says. 

He points out that another issue is related to the rise of e-commerce in the sports nutrition industry. “Whereas previously sports products were typically only found in specialty stores, now we are seeing more appear in online platforms and marketplaces. This is most likely in the hope of gaining new customers, or providing a ‘one-stop shop’ so that consumers can pick up their sports nutrition products alongside their regular groceries.” 

This leads to challenges in terms of enforcement, as it is much harder to police the internet. Additionally, laws vary from country to country, so regulatory boundaries become blurred. Managing e-commerce in the sports nutrition industry in a fair and ethical way will be one of the biggest regulatory challenges in the near future, concludes Carey. 

Sports nutrition has been mainstreamed in recent years, with more and more consumers seeking products to give their casual athletic hobbies a boost. NutritionInsight recently spoke to segment leaders about how companies are overcoming flavor and mouthfeel challenges, while catering to clean label demands, in NPD targeting athletes and “weekend warriors” alike.

By Katherine Durrell