The Food Programme: Beetroot and Health Legislation

If beetroot juice is good for our blood pressure, should it be left up to the European Union to decide whether or not a food manufacturer can make such a claim? The food industry is reeling at the EU's tightening of regulations, which make it more difficult to make a health claim for a food. If precise scientific evidence is required, isn't the EU treating food as if it is a pharmaceutical drug? Sheila Dillon meets one beetroot juice producer in Suffolk who is hoping to make a health claim for his product, but is challenged by the EU bureaucrats. Consumer safety is the paramount concern but is this level of control costly and damaging for small food companies and patronising to the consumer? Sheila travels to Brussels and meets small food companies trying to come to terms with the changes in EU health claims. In trying to protect the public, could the bureaucrats be throwing the metaphorical baby out with the bath water?