Here is what the first employee (a young woman very likely selected for her marketing skills) stated : "We make healthier products (Damhert actually replaces sugar with tagatose, which they claim has all kinds of benefits), but Europe would make regulations as strict as for medicine. That is ridiculous. Do they not know how many people work here ? They should take into account the possible economic repercussions of their laws".
Here is what the second employee (a so-proclaimed scientist who in my opinion has never seen the inside of a laboratory) stated : "These European lawmakers know nothing about the food business".
Now, what Europe is asking is that foodstuffs claiming to be health improving (or healthier) require scientific proof before they can make that claim. Is that not a good thing ? Should we not applaud Europe for protecting us (consumers) ? Should we not applaud Europe for following the scientific rules instead of the rules of profit ? I think we should and I for one do !
As for the point that requirements for food should not be as strict as those for medicine ... I eat every day, several times a day. I only occasionally take medicine. I therefore feel that requirements for food (and the information given about food) should be a lot stricter than those for medicine !
On a related topic I was pleased to hear in a commercial that 99% of the users of a certain shampoo are pleased with its results and I do urge remaining 1% to change their shampoo because otherwise they sort of look like idiots. At least it is a far better commercial than the ones claiming things like :
- 96% of all Belgians like product X
- 98% of all Belgian dentists approve toothpaste Y
Europe has some serious work ahead ... but they at least are on the right track (as is the producer of that shampoo :-) ) !
