4/18/2005 - Independent on Sunday via NewsEdge Corporation : A newgeneration of foods and drinks designed to help reduce cancers and heartdisease are set to appear on Britain's supermarket shelves.

A new European law will now allow food companies to make dramatic claimsabout the health-giving effects of their brands.

Manufacturers are currently barred from claiming that a food can helpprevent or treat illness, but are now planning to turn 'functional foods'into a multibillion-pound industry.

In advance of the new measures, major food companies are developing scoresof new breakfast cereals, fruit and vegetable juices, dairy products anddrinks. They will claim that these foods will cut heart disease, treatobesity, reduce allergies and fight off infections, cut the risks ofosteoporosis and joint disorders, and even help to prevent bowel orprostate cancers.

Industry experts predict the new powers, expected to come into force asearly as next year, will lead to an 'explosion' in the marketing of theseso-called 'functional foods' by manufacturing giants such as Danone andNestl.

The market is already the fastest-growing part of the foods and drinksindustry, with sales leaping by 46 per cent last year to pounds 350m inthe wake of intensive TV and billboard ad campaigns.

The market analyst TNS claims sales of probiotic yoghurts "which containhigh levels of so-called 'friendly bacteria' " grew by more than 80 percent last year.

The new powers are proposed in a controversial EU regulation going throughthe European Parliament and Council of Europe to control 'nutrition andhealth claims' made for foods.

The regulation will set stringent rules to control the use of healthclaims " at the expense of small farmers and food firms. Some sciencedossiers cost up to pounds 250,000 and take several years to complete.

The Commission claims the measures will protect consumers from beingduped, and are likely to mean that products making unproven claims willhave to be relabelled or taken off the shelves.

Instead, firms will have to submit a detailed scientific dossier to theEuropean Food Safety Authority, which will test whether the health claimsare proven. Wealthy food giants such as Danone or niche producers such asYakult are already drafting scientific dossiers on scores of existing andnew products.

The Soil Association, which represents Britain's organic farms and foodfirms, said the measures will strengthen the 'ready meals' industry.