Novel Foods
Are insects the food of the future?
New and unusual foods find their way onto our plates all the time, and even staples such as bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, and rice all came to Europe once as novel foods.
Throughout history, we have added new types of food to our diets, food ingredients or ways of producing food, borrowed from all corners of the planet. And now with the world ever more globalised, and the search for new tastes and sources of nutrients, there are more choices than ever when it comes to what we eat.
Food is considered novel in the EU if it was not consumed widely before May 1997 and also covers new foods, food from new sources, new ingredients used in food as well as new ways and technologies for producing food.
Some newer additions to the European diet include chia seeds or quinoa grain from south America. The oil of the small crustacean krill has a particular fatty acid profile and has found its way into foods and food supplements. And for the more adventurous, crickets, mealworms, or grasshoppers, which are a traditional food and a common staple in parts of the world can be consumed as snacks or as part of various dishes. There are also foods produced using new processing, such as UV-treated milk and UV-treated bread.
Thanks to the diversity of the world, our interaction with other cultures, and innovation, novel foods will continue trying to make their way onto our tables, providing new dietary choices. With our science-based safety assessments, we check whether these new foods are safe.
Ermolaos Ververis, a food chemist working at EFSA.
But before we consume any novel foods, like any food, we need to be sure that they are safe. This means that novel foods undergo a safety assessment. Scientists at EFSA perform risk assessments on the safety of a novel food when requested by the European Commission, and food businesses wishing to market a novel food or food ingredient for the first time in the EU must apply for authorisation before they can start trading.