The Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims Register is the starting point for checking whether a nutrition or health claim may appear on a food label in England, Scotland and Wales. A match requires more than familiar wording: the food, amount, target group, accompanying statement and conditions of use can all matter.
What the Great Britain register records
The Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims Register is a regulatory reference for claims made about foods in England, Scotland and Wales. It should be read as a permissions record, not as a guide to choosing food or a verdict on whether an ingredient is useful. Its central question is narrower: whether a specified claim may be used, and on what terms.
A nutrition claim says or suggests that a food has particular nutritional properties, such as being a source of fibre or low in fat. The permitted nutrition claims and their numerical thresholds are set out in the retained framework. A health claim says, suggests or implies a relationship between a food, nutrient or other substance and health. Health claims require an entry in the Great Britain register, subject to the conditions stated there.
The Food Standards Agency publishes the register and related material for Great Britain. A product label is also subject to the wider prohibition on misleading food information. In practical enforcement, local authority trading standards services can consider label claims, while the Advertising Standards Authority applies advertising rules to marketing communications. The same phrase may therefore be relevant in more than one setting, but the register remains the first document for a health claim on a pack.
The register is not interchangeable with the EU Register of nutrition and health claims. Northern Ireland follows a different legal position for food law in this area. A reader checking a product sold across the UK should first identify where the product is placed on the market and which claim regime applies.
This reference deals with the register check itself. It is distinct from a general assessment of a product's ingredients, nutritional quality or suitability for an individual diet.
What makes a claim authorised
An authorised health claim is not simply a sentence that resembles one found in the register. It is a claim appearing in the applicable Great Britain entry and used in line with every condition attached to that entry. Those conditions can identify the substance, the food category, the minimum amount that must be present, the quantity that must be consumed, the population concerned, or wording that must accompany the claim.
For example, a register entry may concern a vitamin or mineral only where the product qualifies at least as a source of that nutrient. Another entry may require information explaining the quantity and pattern of consumption needed to obtain the claimed effect. A claim aimed at children is not automatically suitable for a product marketed to adults, and the reverse is also true. The product's nutrition declaration and ingredients list may help test whether the stated condition could be met, but they do not replace the register entry.
Wording matters. Some authorised entries provide a specific form of words. In other cases, presentation with the same meaning may be possible, provided it does not exaggerate, broaden or change what the authorised claim says. Adding a dramatic headline, a disease reference, or an unqualified promise can turn a familiar authorised expression into a different claim.
There is a separate point for disease claims. Food information must not state or imply that a food prevents, treats or cures human disease. Certain authorised health-claim entries may refer to a disease risk factor in tightly defined wording and conditions. That limited route should not be read as permission to make a general disease claim.
| Claim type or status | What the words commit the pack to | Where to test it | Relevant enforcement route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authorised health claim | The exact entry and every listed condition of use must be met. | The Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims Register published by the Food Standards Agency. | Food information rules, generally enforced locally by trading standards; advertising rules may also apply. |
| Permitted nutrition claim | The food must meet the defined compositional threshold and any stated labelling condition. | The nutrition-claims conditions in the retained claims framework. | Food information rules, generally enforced locally by trading standards. |
| On-hold botanical claim | The claim has not been granted the same settled authorised status as a register authorisation. | The on-hold material and the general claim rules. | Food information rules and, where advertised, the Advertising Standards Authority's rules. |
| Certification-scheme wording | The pack must comply with the scheme's own rules; scheme membership is not a health-claim authorisation. | The scheme rules and the general claims rules. | The scheme owner or certifier, alongside general food and advertising law where relevant. |
| Undefined promotional wording | A positive impression alone does not create a register permission. | The overall presentation, the claims rules and misleading-information rules. | Trading standards for food information and the Advertising Standards Authority for adverts. |
How to read conditions of use on an entry
Conditions of use are part of the claim. They are not optional small print and cannot be repaired merely by putting qualifying words elsewhere on the label. When a register entry is opened, read from the substance and food description through to the conditions, then the permitted wording and any additional information requirements.
Start with identity. "Vitamin C" is different from a broad reference to an ingredient containing vitamin C. "Oat beta-glucan" is not a general permission to make the same statement about any oat product. The entry may specify a constituent, a standardised amount, or a defined product form. A pack that changes the substance being claimed, even slightly, needs a fresh check.
Next, find the threshold. For nutrition claims, this may be a compositional figure per 100 grams, per 100 millilitres or per 100 kilocalories. For health claims, it may be a requirement that the food is at least a source of a named nutrient, or a stated amount in a daily portion. Do not substitute a manufacturer's suggested serving for the condition unless the entry itself frames the requirement that way.
Then look for required consumer information. Some claims require the label to tell consumers how much of the food should be consumed to obtain the claimed effect. Some require a statement directed at a particular group. Some have restrictions designed to prevent the claim being understood as a treatment statement. A claim can fail even when the nutrient amount appears adequate if these accompanying requirements are absent.
Finally, read the claim in its packaging context. Pictures, product names, banners and nearby phrases can alter the overall meaning. A claim should not be enlarged from a contribution to a guarantee, nor turned from a statement about normal bodily function into an assertion about a medical condition.
What "on hold" means for botanical claims
"On hold" is often misunderstood as a seal of approval or as a complete ban. It is neither. It describes an unresolved category of health-claim applications, notably including many claims relating to botanicals. The claims have not completed the same authorisation route as entries recorded as authorised in the Great Britain register.
The practical consequence is caution, not a shortcut. An on-hold claim does not give a pack the clean, settled status of an authorised register entry. Its use remains subject to the general requirements that food information must not mislead and that health claims must be clear, accurate and meaningful to consumers. The exact transitional position and applicable conditions need checking against current Food Standards Agency material, because legal arrangements and guidance can change.
For a reader inspecting a pack, the useful question is: does the label present the statement as a definite, authorised conclusion, or does it rely on a botanical name and a broad suggested benefit without a settled register authorisation? The latter should not be treated as equivalent to an authorised claim. A leaf image, traditional-looking language or a reference to plant use does not settle the claim's regulatory status.
On-hold status also does not convert a food claim into a medicinal claim. Statements that a food prevents, treats or cures disease remain outside the ordinary food-claims route. Nor does it displace the requirement that an advert be responsible and not misleading. The Advertising Standards Authority may assess advertising presentation independently of the label's physical format.
Do not use the on-hold list to decide whether a botanical works or whether it is suitable for an individual. This reference concerns the status and wording of a claim on a pack, not dietary or clinical decisions.
Step-by-step: check a pack against the register
This sequence is designed for a claim already printed on a product. It does not decide whether to buy, consume or avoid the food. Take a clear note of the exact words, including qualifiers such as "contributes to", "supports", "source of" and "high". Those small terms often determine which rule applies.
- Identify the market. Confirm that the pack is for Great Britain, meaning England, Scotland or Wales. Do not assume that an EU or Northern Ireland version is governed by the same register.
- Classify the statement. Ask whether it is a nutrition claim, a health claim, a scheme statement, or undefined promotional language. A claim about normal body function is likely to need a health-claim check.
- Copy the claim and named substance. Search the Great Britain register using the nutrient, substance or claimed function as well as the headline wording. Do not stop at the first similar result.
- Check the entry status. Distinguish an authorised entry from material identified as on hold. Treat those statuses differently.
- Read every condition of use. Test the product's food category, nutrient amount, portion basis, intended population and required accompanying information against the entry.
- Compare the total presentation. Check whether adjacent words, images or a product name push the claim beyond the meaning of the entry.
- Keep the evidence. Retain photographs of the relevant pack panels and note the register entry consulted. This makes a query to the producer or an enforcement body more specific.
Screenshot rule: no matching authorised entry plus all conditions met means the claim should not be treated as an authorised health claim. A similar phrase, a scheme logo or an on-hold reference does not fill the gap.
Where scheme logos fit, and where they do not
Certification and assurance schemes can communicate something specific about production, provenance, welfare, environmental criteria or inspection arrangements. Their logos and terms are governed first by the rules of the relevant scheme. They are not, by themselves, entries on the Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims Register.
This distinction matters where a pack combines a scheme mark with a health-facing message. A certification logo may establish that the product meets scheme criteria, if it has been used under those criteria. It does not establish that the food can make a claim about immunity, cholesterol, digestion, energy, growth or another bodily function. That second proposition has to stand on its own under the claims rules.
Likewise, a nutrition or health claim does not prove membership of a certification scheme. The two systems answer different questions and are enforced through different routes. Checking the rules of the named scheme and the relevant register entry separately avoids giving either type of statement more weight than it carries.
There is also a third category: general positive language with no defined scheme and no register entry. Words such as "pure", "wholesome" or "better for you" may create a health-related impression depending on their context, but they are not automatically regulated as named nutrition claims. The absence of a formal definition does not make the presentation unrestricted. The overall label must still not mislead, and an implied health benefit can bring the claims rules into view.
Limits of this reference
This reference covers the Great Britain register route for nutrition and health claims on food labels and the basic method for checking a printed claim. It applies to food placed on the market in England, Scotland and Wales. It does not set out the separate position for Northern Ireland, nor does it replace current official legal material where an entry, transition or enforcement policy has changed.
It does not assess whether a nutrient, botanical or ingredient produces a health outcome. It also does not give dietary, medical, allergy or suitability advice. People seeking guidance about an individual diet, condition, medicine or nutritional requirement should use an appropriate qualified health professional.
The page does not cover every format in which a claim may appear. Advertising, social posts, retailer listings, point-of-sale material and packaging can have different presentation issues even when they repeat similar wording. The Advertising Standards Authority's remit is relevant to advertising, while food-label enforcement is generally local. A complaint or compliance query is stronger when it identifies the exact words, product, date, place of sale and register entry checked.
Finally, this is not a product directory or a list of acceptable claims to copy. A claim that appears valid in one entry may be invalid on another food because its formulation, amount, serving context or accompanying wording differs.