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The European Union market is overflown by food supplements and an increasing number of consumers prefer those where bee products play an important part in their composition. This paper deals with complex European Union legislation concerning food supplements based on bee products, placing a special emphasis on their composition, labelling, and safety. Correct labelling of food supplements also represents a great challenge since, in spite of legal regulations in force, there are still open issues regarding the statements on the amount of propolis, which is not clearly defined by the legal framework. One of the key issues are the labels containing health claims from the EU positive list approved by the European Food Safety Authority. Emphasis will also be placed on informing consumers about food, as statements which imply the healing properties of food supplements and their capacity to cure diseases are forbidden. One of the key elements of product safety is HACCP based on the EU Regulations EC 178/02 and 852/2004. Health safety analyses of food supplements with bee products used as raw materials, which are standardised by legal regulations will also be discussed. In the future, attention should also be paid to establishing the European Union "nutrivigilance" system. Croatian experiences in addressing challenges faced by producers, supervisory entities, and regulatory and inspection bodies may serve as an example to countries aspiring to become part of the large European family.

This article proposes guidelines for quality standards of royal jelly. The proposals are based on two sets of data; the first from our study of the factors that may affect the royal jelly's chemical composition (protein and sugar supplementation of beehives) and the second on the analysis of a great number of samples from across Greece to establish natural variability of this product. We compared our findings with the adopted national limits, the proposals of the working group of the International Honey Commission (IHC), and the draft proposal of the International Organization of Standardization (ISO). The studied parameters included moisture, total proteins, sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, total sugars), and 10-hydroxy- 2-decenoic acid (10-HDA). Our results indicate that the limits for royal jelly in some countries should be amended and the proposals of the IHC and the ISO reviewed in view of recent data on variability. We believe that our proposals could be considered for setting global standards for royal jelly, as they incorporate national legislations, proposals of scientific groups, experimental data, and updated information.

Royal jelly is a viscous substance secreted by the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of worker honeybees (Apis mellifera) that contains a considerable amount of proteins, free amino acids, lipids, vitamins, sugars, and bioactive substances such as 10-hydroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid, antibacterial protein, and 350-kDa protein. These properties make it an attractive ingredient in various types of healthy foods. This article brings a brief review of the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of certain disorders that can be remedied by royal jelly, based on a selection of in vivo and in vitro studies. It also describes current understanding of the mechanisms and beneficial effects by which royal jelly helps to combat aging-related complications. Royal jelly has been reported to exhibit beneficial physiological and pharmacological effects in mammals, including vasodilative and hypotensive activities, antihypercholesterolemic activity, and antitumor activity. As its composition varies significantly (for both fresh and dehydrated samples), the article brings a few recommendations for defining new quality standards.