AI in Food and Supplement Marketing – 5 Legal Risks Brands Tend to Overlook

Artificial intelligence is leaving an increasingly strong mark on marketing within the food, wellness, and dietary supplement industries. While brands leverage AI to generate content rapidly, this speed often outpaces the careful analysis of legal risks.

Today, artificial intelligence tools are widely used to generate:

• product descriptions,
• marketing claims,
• advertising graphics,
• social media copy,
• newsletters,
• advertising campaigns,
• and even direct customer communication.

The problem, however, is that AI creates content that is highly effective for marketing, but not necessarily compliant with the law.

In practice, more and more companies publish AI-generated communications without prior legal or compliance review. This can lead to very specific regulatory risks – particularly in the food and dietary supplement sector.

1. AI Generates Claims That Might Be Illegal

This is currently one of the greatest practical risks. AI tools inherently tend to create intuitive statements such as: "reduces stress," "supports ADHD," "natural antidepressant," "body detox," "burns fat," "heals inflammation," or "regulates hormones."

The issue is that many of these phrases:

• may constitute unauthorized health claims,
• imply medicinal or therapeutic properties (which is strictly prohibited for food products),
• violate national and EU regulations governing food and dietary supplement advertising.

AI does not analyze compliance with EU regulations on nutrition and health claims, Chief Sanitary Inspectorate (GIS) practices, or regulatory exposure. It simply writes text that "sounds good" for marketing. Yet, the legal responsibility for communication remains with the business owner – not the AI tool.

2. AI Fails to Distinguish Between Nutrition and Health Claims

This issue occurs with particular frequency in the supplement industry. For instance, slogans like "high protein," "source of protein," or "high fiber" are nutrition claims regulated by EU law and can only be used if very specific ingredient criteria are met.

On the other hand, taglines like "boosts immunity," "helps maintain healthy bones," or "supports concentration" can qualify as health claims, which are likewise subject to rigorous approval procedures and registration.

Because AI frequently blends marketing jargon, lifestyle phrasing, and regulated nutrition or health claims, a brand might unknowingly publish copy that looks professional but flagrantly violates food law requirements.

3. AI Creates Copy That Catches the Eye of Consumer Protection Authorities

Language algorithms are programmed to sell. Consequently, they readily generate superlatives, exaggerated promises, and claims that would demand hard scientific or market evidence:

• "the best supplement,"
• "the purest ingredients,"
• "the most natural formula,"
• "a revolutionary recipe,"
• "the most effective product."

Several of these statements can easily be deemed misleading to consumers. Regulatory bodies, such as the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), increasingly scrutinize not just the product itself, but how it is advertised and the overall impression the ad leaves on an average consumer. The fact that the text was generated by an AI tool holds no weight from a regulator's perspective.

4. AI-Generated Content and Copyright Law

This is a topic that many brands still overlook entirely. In practice, companies increasingly use AI to produce graphics, slogans, packaging, visual assets, or stock product photography. Meanwhile, copyright ownership regarding artificial intelligence outputs continues to trigger immense legal uncertainties worldwide.

Key questions arise:

• Is content generated entirely by AI even eligible for copyright protection?
• Who is the actual legal owner of a graphic created by an algorithm?
• Can you effectively transfer copyright ownership of generative AI materials via a contract?
• Do the training data sets used by the model infringe upon third-party intellectual property?

This becomes critically important when drafting precise contracts with marketing agencies or freelancers, and when building a unique, defensible brand identity.

5. The AI Act Is Arriving – E-commerce and Marketing Will Be Bound by It

The European Union is gradually rolling out the AI Act, the first comprehensive legal framework regulating artificial intelligence. While much of the public debate centers on high-risk systems (such as biomedicine or critical infrastructure), this regulation will directly impact marketing and e-commerce operations.

Particularly vital areas will include:

• transparency (the obligation to inform users that they are interacting with a chatbot or viewing AI-generated graphics),
• personalized sales communications,
• the prohibition of using AI systems to manipulate consumer behavior.

For the food and supplement sectors, this means marketing compliance will inevitably expand to encompass auditing the technological tools utilized internally within the company.

Summary

Artificial intelligence is reshaping marketing faster than most legal frameworks can adapt. However, this does not mean AI-generated communication falls into a legal vacuum. On the contrary – the full legal liability for claims and advertising still rests squarely on the entrepreneur.

"ChatGPT wrote the text" will not stand as an effective defense before consumer protection or sanitary authorities.

For the food and dietary supplement industry, marketing compliance is no longer just a formal administrative layer. In the age of automation, it has transformed into one of the most vital components of true business risk management.