Food Standards Agency

Thursday 28 August 2008

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Regulation of novel food

Wednesday 9 April 2008

The 'Novel Foods Regulation' (Regulation (EC) No 258/97) lays out detailed rules for the authorisation of novel foods, ingredients and processes.

The regulation applies to any food and food ingredient that has not been sold in the European Union to a significant degree before May 1997 and:

• consists of foods or food ingredients with a new or intentionally modified primary molecular structure
• consists of or is isolated from micro-organisms, fungi or algae
• consists of or is isolated from plants or food ingredients isolated from animals, except for foods and food ingredients obtained by traditional propagating or breeding practices that have a history of safe food use
• to which has been applied a production process not currently used, where that process gives rise to significant changes in the composition or structure of the foods or food ingredients which affect their nutritional value, metabolism or level of undesirable substances

Exemptions apply for food additives, flavourings, and extraction solvents used in the production of foodstuffs, and these fall within the scope of Council Directives 89/107/EEC, 88/388/EEC and 88/344/EEC respectively. See the directives on the European Commission website via the links below.

The Novel Foods Regulation also states that foods or food ingredients falling within the scope of the regulation must not:

• present a danger for the consumer
• mislead the consumer
• differ from foods or food ingredients that they are intended to replace to such an extent that their normal consumption would be nutritionally disadvantageous for the consumer

See the regulation on the European Commission website via the link below.

External links   The Food Standards Agency has no responsibility for the content of external websites

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