The paper is a review of legal regulations regulating the inserting of nutrition and health claims on the packaging of food products in the European Union. Moreover, some selected research results are presented on how the consumers perceive those claims. The packaging is the first element of food product to contact the consumer and, therefore, it seems to be a proper means to communicate with them. In December 2006, Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 was adopted on the use of nutrition and health claims in the EU countries; it contains harmonised provisions on the use of claims made on food by entities present on the market. According to this legal act, ‘claim’ is any communication, which suggests that a food product has particular characteristics. Manufacturers willingly utilize claims to label foods in order to highlight properties of a given food product or its health benefits when consuming it. The application of such information is a response to the expectations of consumers who are more and more aware of the relationship between diet and health. The results of the hitherto studies confirm that the nutrition and health claims may impact the consumer perception of individual attributes of a product and their overall evaluation of its quality. However, there are no clear data indicating that a claim placed on the label can convince consumers to choose products that are more beneficial to health. The key issue is also how consumers understand and interpret the contents of nutrition and health claims.