BABY FOOD manufacturers can continue to state their products aid children’s eyesight after the European Parliament did not back a resolution seeking a withdrawal of the claim.
Labour MEP Nessa Childers, one of four MEPs behind the resolution put forward by the parliament’s public health committee, described the development as “a defeat for families with young babies”.
Ms Childers also claimed she was “disappointed many conservative MEPs have stood with big business interests on this issue”.
Yesterday’s vote concerned a claim on tins of baby formula and jars of baby food that the inclusion of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which occurs naturally in breast milk, contributed to the normal visual development of infants up to 12 months of age. The committee had recommended that MEPs should not authorise the inclusion of the claim without more research being carried out.
“This is not about promoting breastfeeding. We all understand that for a whole range of reasons many parents choose not to breastfeed. This is about the safety of those babies fed on formula milk,” Ms Childers said.
She said if an ingredient was “genuinely found” to be beneficial and risk-free it should be obligatory in all formula milk products.
However, Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness said the European Food Safety Authority had told MEPs it supported the health claim based on scientific studies. She said consumers should be entitled to make up their own minds about products.