Novel foods
In 2013, the Commission unveiled a proposal for a regulation on novel foods, which aims to update the existing rules dating back to 1997.
Scientific and technological progress has led to changes in food production, generating new ingredients and new production methods, such as nanotechnology. In addition, mass tourism and migration has boosted interest in foods - like insects or tropical fruit - that have not been part of traditional diets in the EU.
This has increased the need to reassure consumers about the safety of new products on the market.
In general, the proposed legislation seeks to further facilitate the free movement of novel foods on the EU's single market while preserving the high level of food safety.
It seeks to speed up the authorisation procedure that assesses the safety of foods before they are placed on the market. It also aims to clarify the definition of a novel food.
On 16 November 2015, the Council adopted new rules, as approved by the European Parliament on 28 October 2015.
What is a 'novel food' on the EU market?
It is one, which was not consumed in the EU 'to a significant degree' before May 1997, when the first regulation in this area came into force. The definition includes foods with new ingredients or foods to which a new production process is applied. The examples include:
- milk type products and yoghurt type products with added phytosterol esters
- phospholipids from egg yolk
- coagulated potato proteins and hydrolysates thereof
New rules
The agreed text introduces a number of changes to the existing rules.
Faster authorisation procedure
Under the new rules the authorisation procedure will take on average around 18 months compared to three years currently.
The new rules will replace the current system of national authorisations by an EU-level one. This will mean that, once authorised and added to the EU list, a novel food could be placed on the market by any food operator. This in turn will avoid the re-submission of new applications by other businesses for the same novel food.
The draft regulation will also boost the transparency of the procedure, by allowing any interested party to submit scientific information to the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority, thus avoiding the duplication of tests, especially on animals.
Nanomaterials
New rules cover food containing or consisting of engineered nanomaterials and require that the test methods applied for their analysis are adequate to the characteristics of those materials.
The Commission is mandated to adapt the definition of engineered nanomaterials to technical progress or the definitions agreed at international level.
Cloning
New rules will apply to food from animal clones, until specific rules on the matter enter into force. Commission's draft rules on cloning are currently under discussion in the Council and the European Parliament.
Food from tissue and insects
New rules will also apply to food made from tissue and cell culture as well as insects. As a result, they would also be subject to an authorization procedure.
Entry into force of the new rules
Following the adoption of new rules by the Council on 16 November 2015, they were published in the EU's Official Journal on 11 December 2015 and entered into force 20 days later. They will be applicable in EU countries two years from their entry into force.