PATHWAY-27: Scientifics of AINIA participate in two Workshops in Brussels and in the Food4life Platform Meeting of the Food and Health Group in Madrid

Scientifics of AINIA will participate in the next 21 and 22 of September in two PATHWAY-27 Guidance Paper Workshops in Brussels, and will present the project and the guides on 4 of October at the Food4life Platform Meeting of the Food and Health Group (Madrid).

Since the adoption of the Regulation on nutrition and health claims by the European Commission in 2006, companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular, have faced scientific, legal, administrative and financial difficulties when trying to build a health claim dossier. Guidance for stakeholders more specifically interested in health claims relating to bioactive compounds and bioactive-enriched foods would be helpful. As part of its work programme, the PATHWAY-27 consortium has developed two guidance papers:

• The ‘Scientific Guidelines‘ highlight best practices when designing and running randomised controlled intervention trials, which aim to demonstrate the claimed effect and are a requirement of health claim dossiers.
• The ‘Industry Guidelines‘ are intended as a practical guide from product development to the submission of a health claim dossier.

Workshop 1 will focus on the ‘Scientific Guidelines‘ on 21^st September 2017 and Workshop 2 will focus on the ‘Industry Guidelines‘ on 22^nd September 2017. In parallel working groups, experts will actively review, help refine and provide feedback on the guidance papers.

Pivotal Assessment of the Effects of Bioactives on the Health and Wellbeing. From Human Genoma to Food Industry (PATHWAY-27) is a 5-year research project funded under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme. The PATHWAY-27 consortium consists of 25 partner organisations, coordinated by the University of Bologna and including AINIA.

The consortium studies three bioactives (docosahexaenoic acid, beta-glucan, and anthocyanins) incorporated into three different widely consumed food matrices (dairy-, bakery-, egg products). The overall objective of PATHWAY-27 is to determine the impact of these bioactive-enriched foods on physiologically-relevant endpoints related to Metabolic Syndrome risk and deliver a better understanding of the role and mechanisms of action of the bioactive-enriched foods.