Botanicals are made from plants, algae or fungi. Some examples include ginko, garlic, St John's Wort and ginseng.
Botanicals are causing the EU a bit of a problem. They are commonly found in food supplements but no claims made by botanicals are listed in Article 13 of the regulation which sets out the health claims permitted.
Many botanicals also fall into the category of traditional medicines. If the EU applied the same rules to botanicals as it does to other health claims made by foods, many of the botanical claims would be rejected. This would create an unfair market between traditional medicines and food supplements.
The EU is currently deciding what to do about this issue and has called on the member states to give their opinions on the action.
