The novel foods regulation opens the door to market for a whole range of products, including insects, but what impact will it have on food producers?
On January 1, 2018, EU 2015/2283 the new novel foods regulation? took effect, replacing EU regulations 1169/2011 and 258/97. This first and immediate impact of this regulation is that all authorizations (new or old) are generic instead of applicant specific, which means that once one company provides data that enables a novel food to be sold in the EU and it is approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) than any company wanting to sell the same item may do so, providing they adhere to the authorization conditions, labeling and specification requirements. This allows any company to market previously authorized novel foods whether or not they were the applicant. This should significantly reduce the price of some novel foods already approved as it does provide for more competition and will increase the availability of novel food ingredients.
DATA PROTECTION PROVISION
Knowing that this may discourage innovation, the new regulation establishes a data protection provision. This provision allows the applicant to apply for an individual authorization, which if approved, allows a five-year proprietary protection for this applicant