SNE releases new term manifesto ahead of upcoming EU parliamentary elections

12 Mar 2024 --- Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) has released its manifesto for the 2024 – 2029 term of the EU Parliament, set to be elected this June. The group highlights the need for policymakers to ensure common standards to guarantee the nutrition of vulnerable groups, enable informed choices, address obesity, malnutrition and food allergies and safeguard the EU market.

“SNE represents the manufacturers of specialized nutrition products for people with specific nutritional needs, such as infants and young children, people with medical conditions, disorders and diseases comprising among other things coeliac disease, sports people and those managing their weight,” Marie-France Pagerey, president of SNE, tells Nutrition Insight.

“We are asking EU policymakers to regulate foods for specific groups in a similar way to the EU regulating foods covered by the Specific Groups Regulation. In the case of the Young Child Formula, the composition should be regulated by implementing the updated Codex Standard into EU law, taking into account the specific nutritional needs of young children in the EU.”

The lack of satisfactory EU regulation on Young Child Formula and Sports Nutrition is a pressing issue, according to the SNE.Common standards
The manifesto asserts the need for common standards to guarantee optimal nutrition for vulnerable groups across the whole of the EU.

“We have observed that there is a recurring issue with the different ways member states interpret EU rules on these specialized nutrition products, resulting in barriers within the EU’s internal market,” Pagerey explains.

“This is the case even for product groups that are specifically regulated by the EU, such as Foods for Specific Medical Purposes. We, therefore, encourage the EU Commission (EC) to issue interpretation decisions. Such decisions are foreseen in the Regulation on Foods for Specific Groups.”

She argues that this is even more pressing for product categories where specific EU legislation is lacking, such as Young Child Formula (for one to three-year-olds) and sports foods.

“To ensure high standards for consumers and consistency across the EU’s internal market, we would request that solid and specific regulation be implemented for all foods for specific groups, especially for Young Child Formula for children from one to three years of age and sport foods.”

Working with stakeholders
The manifesto further highlights the need for an EU nutrition and health agenda that includes all relevant stakeholders to address challenges such as obesity, malnutrition and food allergies.

“The currently ongoing strategic dialogue on agriculture, inaugurated by the EC and involving stakeholders in the agri-food chain, could be one model to draw inspiration from,” Pagerey explains.

“Due to the specific nature of our sector and the role we play in ensuring access to foods for specific medical purposes, it is important that we have a seat at the table for such public health discussions,” she states.

“The EU’s food and drink industry as a whole, and including our sector, employs some 4.6 million people and generates a turnover of €1.1 trillion (US$ 1.2 trillion) and €229 billion (US$ 250 billion) in value-added, making it one of the largest manufacturing industries in the EU.”

 The Specialized Nutrition industry is one of the largest manufacturing industries in the EU.Pagerey outlines that: “The specialized nutrition industry contributes more than €25 billion (US$ 27 billion) in turnover, and its R&D investments are particularly high, given the need to design products for groups with very specific needs. Infant foods are one of the EU’s top agri-food exports.”

R&D in nutrition
As part of the manifesto’s focus on safeguarding the internal market and an enabling food policy, the SNE calls for policymakers to facilitate the further growth of innovation in the EU nutrition space.

“Specialized nutrition is particularly research-intensive because the products are tailor-made for specific groups with specific nutritional needs. The many innovations in specialized nutrition are usually company- and product-specific.”

Pagerey highlights innovations, such as: “Improvements in infant formulas, to make them as nutritionally suitable as possible. One example is the addition of DHA. This omega-3 fatty acid, which contributes to the normal visual development of infants, was first added by individual companies, and today it is a mandatory component.”

 “Improvements in Foods for Special Medical Purposes, to make them even more suitable for a particular group of patients,” is another aspect of R&D, according to Pagerey.

“Improvements of gluten-free foods such as texture and flavor innovation will continue to be essential for specialized nutrition, as more and more specific deficiencies are being identified, which can be correlated to the age group and physio-pathological conditions,” she concludes

By Milana Nikolova