Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 health claims made on foods are prohibited unless they are authorised by the Commission in accordance with that Regulation and included in a list of permitted claims.

Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 also provides that applications for authorisations of health claims may be submitted by food business operators to the national competent authority of a Member State. The national competent authority is to forward valid applications to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’.

Following receipt of an application the Authority is to inform without delay the other Member States and the Commission thereof and to deliver an opinion on the health claim concerned.

The Commission is to decide on the authorisation of health claims taking into account the opinion delivered by the Authority.

On 18 October 2010, the Commission and the Member States received the scientific opinion from the Authority, which concluded that on the basis of the data presented, a cause and effect relationship had not been established between the consumption of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota and the claimed effect. Accordingly, as the claim does not comply with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, it should not be authorised.

On 14 February 2011, the Commission and the Member States received the scientific opinion from the Authority, which concluded that on the basis of the data presented, a cause and effect relationship had not been established between the consumption of Lactobacillus plantarum TENSIA^TM in the semi-hard Edam-type ‘heart cheese’ of Harmony^TM and the claimed effect. Accordingly, as the claim does not comply with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, it should not be authorised.

The health claims subject to this Regulation are health claim as referred to in point (a) of Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 and may benefit from the transitional period laid down in Article 28(5) of that Regulation. As the Authority concluded that cause and effect relationships have not been established between the foods and the claimed effects, the claims do not comply with Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, and therefore they may not benefit from the transitional period provided for in that Article.

In order to ensure that this Regulation is fully complied with, both food business operators and the national competent authorities should take the necessary actions to ensure that, at the latest 6 months following the entry into force of this Regulation, products bearing the health claims listed in its Annex are no longer present on the market.

The comments from the applicants and the members of the public received by the Commission pursuant to Article 16(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 have been considered when setting the measures provided for in this Regulation.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health and neither the European Parliament nor the Council have opposed them,