Kemin Industries has received novel food authorization from the European Commission for its BetaVia Pure postbiotic ingredient, a proprietary strain of the algae Euglena gracilis, with five-year exclusivity in the European market.
UK food authorities have launched a consultation to collect views on policy change proposals that aim to streamline the authorization process for regulated products such as novel foods.
In this guest article, David Hardstaff and John Binns, Partners at BCL Solicitors, discuss a high-profile investigation into banned muscle-building drugs which highlights issues with the novel foods regime impacting the CBD industry.
With more than 400 products recently being removed from the FSA’s public list of CBD novel food applications, the retail market should be in the midst of major change, but what should be happening and what is happening are two different discussions in...
Health claims, novel foods, labelling, GMOs… the recently introduced Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill could have far reaching implications for the food and nutrition industries in the UK.
CBD industry specialists have voiced their concerns over the direction of the market as they reveal consumer research indicating the most popular products in the category are likely to be outlawed by novel foods regulations.
Food law experts have voiced their concerns over the novel foods process for CBD products as the FSA publishes its long-awaited, but somewhat short, list of products allowed to remain on the market.
The FSA’s recent change to its CBD Novel Foods deadline will lead to a lot of hasty half-hearted applications from companies unaware of how much more difficult the process is about to become, an expert has warned.
With the UK deadline for novel food applications looming on 31 March, it has come to light that UK regulations will not apply to CBD products in Northern Ireland post-Brexit meaning this market may ‘disappear’ for many companies.
A UK CBD industry body is leading a consortium of companies to conduct a ‘landmark’ study on the safety of cannabidiol. This mean manufacturers in the country are in a ‘position to take the global lead’ on CBD in food, FoodNavigator was told.
Solar Foods is preparing to build its first commercialisation factory for climate-friendly novel protein Solein, having closed a Series A financing round worth €18.5m.
The Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI) has received clarification from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) regarding updated deadlines set for Cannabinoid (CBD) firms to apply for Novel Foods status.
US-based Kemin Industries has received a positive safety assessment from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for its algae-sourced beta glucan ingredient, BetaVia. This unlocks the opportunity for ‘innovative product developers to be the first to...
By Katia Merten-Lentz, partner at Keller and Heckman
Cannabidiol (‘CBD’) has burst onto the world stage in recent years, and the EU is no exception. Katia Merten-Lentz, partner at Keller and Heckman, looks at the ingredient’s legal status.
Many people working in the nutrition industry feel positive about the EU’s new novel foods process, which came in to force on January 1st 2018, finds research by the organisers of Vitafoods Europe.
FoodNavigator talks insect innovation and EU regulation with the founder of UK insect start-up, Mophagy, that has just landed official European distribution rights for Entomo Farms.
The revised European Union novel foods regulation will stimulate innovation and give consumers more sustainable, affordable food choices, says industry trade group, FoodDrinkEurope.
By Shane Starling at the European Parliament in Brussels
Unless there is a shock shift, a full sitting of the 751-seat European Parliament (EP) will soon pass significant reforms to the EU’s now ‘not fit for purpose’ novel foods regulation – but widespread concerns remain.
A European Council committee has rejected a proposal that would have allowed the European Parliament the right to veto novel foods approvals – saying this would contradict the law’s purpose to simplify authorisation.
The long running process to develop a new centralised legislative procedure for novel food approvals has hit the rocks again – meaning major delays and backlogs are now on the cards, warn industry insiders.
"As a member of Parliament, I need facts. And I think you, the food industry, have the resources to find those."
By Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn from the European Parliament in Brussels
The food industry should provide facts if it expects EU decision makers to consider dismantling the controversial novel foods regulation it has long-argued discourages innovation, a UK member of the European Parliament (MEP) said at a workshop in Brussels...
Exotic and functional fruits and vegetables like cashew nut fruit, chu chu and their extracts are set for an easier passage into European Union markets if mooted simplifications to EU Novel Foods laws come to fruition, according to a UK-based expert.
Trading Standards (TS) don’t have the resources to check for the potentially dangerous unapproved novel foods illegally on sale on the UK market, it has emerged.
The EU’s long-winded novel foods rules have long been viewed as an innovation-crimping legal structure, but a stream-lining of the process means companies should not fear it, a consultant says.
EU dairy and beverage manufacturers may have access to another form of the dietary fibre methylcellulose, which induces feelings of fullness – or satiety – if a novel foods application by Dow Wolff Cellulosics (DWC) succeeds.
New proposals on novel foods regulation due in 2012 may see separate legislation to deal with the delicate issue of animal cloning, according to experts from the FSA.
MEPs are pressing the Commission for action on new novel food and cloning proposals, which the EU regulator had undertaken to deliver by December 2011.
Produce from cloned animals and their off-spring will be removed from the new novel foods proposal and place in a separate legislative proposal of its own, the Health and Consumer Protection Commission John Dalli confirms.
Research and development (R&D) champion Unilever has voiced deep disappointment and frustration over the collapse of talks reviewing the 1997 EU Novel Foods Regulation, claiming it will hamper food and drink manufacturers' innovation plans.
All is not well down on the novel foods farm. If food innovation in Europe is to thrive anew, MEPs and the Council need to get past the recriminations over the failed talks and remove the troublesome question of cloned foods from the negotiating table.
The collapse of talks on the novel foods amendment will have a detrimental effect on innovation and competitiveness in Europe, says the CIAA and an economist, while Commissioner Dalli is still figuring out what to do next.
Last ditch efforts to salvage the novel foods regulation were derailed yesterday after the European Parliament and Council failed to reach agreement over the issue of cloned animals – with each side blaming the other for the impasse.
An inability by the European Parliament and Council to reach an agreement on the novel foods update due to disagreement over cloned animals and their offspring would send the message that no-one really cares about innovation, says consultant.
The CIAA is confident that the incoming Hungarian presidency of the EU will finalise the long-awaited amended novel foods regulation in the next six months, but points out a number of outstanding issues.
There is no evidence to justify the regulation of food from the descendants of cloned animals on safety grounds, the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) will tell Government chiefs.
Regulations are intended to protect consumers and ensure there is scientific evidence that foods placed on the market are safe and do what they say on the label. But they can also cause an innovation go-slow – at least until the European institutions...
Novel hypoallergenic foods that could benefit consumers with serious allergies are being overlooked by current legislation warn researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Further risk-benefit studies are needed to remedy that problem,...
Big oops. Meat and milk from the offspring of cloned animals has entered the UK food chain. Cue scary headlines and scared consumers. But the leviathan of EU-lawmaking means no-one actually knows if it’s legal or not. And that’s an even bigger oops.
Members of the European Parliament have voted against including meat or milk from cloned animals under the new novel foods regulation, an outcome that makes conciliation procedure likely unless the Council accepts the position.
Food from cloned animals must be excluded from draft legislation on ‘novel foods’, Environment Committee MEPs said yesterday - in direct opposition to a position adopted by EU environment ministers just weeks ago.
The European Council has adopted a position on the proposed novel foods amendment that includes produce from clones as a stop-gap, but suggests specific legislation be put in place in the near future.
Novel foods are high on the agenda in Europe, as amendments to the original 1997 law are in the works. The UK’s FSA is planning an open event to gauge views and present its panel’s work.
The CIAA has signalled its priorities for Spain’s six month presidency of the EU, with competitiveness, food information, novel foods revisions, research and sustainability topping the bill.
Novel food regulation functions as an unintentional trade barrier to heritage foods and affects supply chain development and poverty alleviation in developing countries, according to a new report.
The amended novel foods approval must reinforce the principle of mutual recognition between member states if the fast-track process for traditional foods eaten outside the EU is to work, says an expert.
