Question - 5.2.3 Where a product is designed to enable a claim to be made to satisfy a consumer group (e.g. a nutritional claim, reduced sugar), the company shall ensure that the product formulation and production process is fully validated to meet the stated claim
Interpretation – Nutritional claim
Where a particular claim about the formulation of a product has been made, procedures must be in place to validate that the claim is correct and to ensure that, when handling the product during processing, contamination or variation which adversely affects the claim cannot occur. A procedure might, for example, include completing a nutritional analysis which can be checked against the proposed product label and specification.
Good practice is to ensure that a program of ongoing verification is in place to demonstrate that claims are consistently being met. Claims such as "free from" and “allergen free’ need particular care to ensure that cross-contamination does not occur during processing and are therefore covered separately in clause 5.3.7.
Where there are particular legislative requirements relating to claims such as low fat, sugar or salt, the requirements must be understood and must be met.