NOVEL FOODS: REGULATION, HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS

Under the Novel Food Regulation (258/97/EC), a novel food is defined as a food or food ingredient that does not have a significant history of consumption within the European Union prior to 15 May 1997. Novel foods are required to undergo a pre-market safety assessment and must be authorised before they can legally be marketed in the EU. A proposal to revise and update the EU Novel Food Regulation was published in 2008. This proposed a definition for nanomaterials, a centralised and faster authorisation procedure and specific measures for traditional foods from third countries. As a result of disagreement on the inclusion of foods from cloned animals, the European Parliament and Council were unable to reach agreement on the new regulation before the deadline of 30 March 2011. New discussions on the updated Regulation are expected to take place in 2012. So far 66 novel foods and food ingredients have been authorised for use in the EU. The most popular products are Noni juice (juice of the fruits of Morinda citrifolia) and phytosterols in a number of foodstuffs.