The turn of the century saw the pace of innovation in the food industry soar. Industry began to experiment with the idea that plants, animals and different food ingredients derived from them could be altered in a way which would improve their nutritional values and improve the efficiency of agricultural and food production. Science, new technology and industrial advances
all fed in to the development of foodstuffs that were designed to offer more to the
consumer, producer or farmer than their traditional counterparts. In addition, globalisation meant that new food substances and ingredients, which were used in other parts of the world
but were unknown to Europeans, were being introduced to the EU market. As a result, there was a steady growth in previously unknown foods which were often produced using new technological
procedures. The traits of these products could not be assumed to be the same as tried-and-tested, conventionally produced foodstuffs in the EU and so their safety for consumption needed to be verified. Therefore, the European Commission drew up a new EU Regulation to govern “novel
foods”. Novel foods are defined as food and food ingredients which were not used for human consumption to any significant degree before the Regulation entered into force in May 1997. Examples of novel foods which have been approved at EU level include “noni juice” (from a tropical fruit) and a number of dairy products with added plantchemicals (phytosterols) which are thought to help reduce cholesterol.