On 5 and 6 May 2015, the Vitafoods Europe Conference took place in Geneva. For companies active in the ingredient business, this is the yearly meet up to share the latest ingredients insights, to present new products and to prepare actual or future deals. Axon Lawyers was asked to participate in the Conference Program, which this year was committed to three different steams, being “your business”, “your science” and “your product” respectively. Axon Lawyers presented two topics in the business stream, pertaining to EFSA Claims and Regulatory Issues and to Labelling. Below, some background with respect to these presentations will be provided and the actual presentations will be shared.

WRAP-UP OF NOVEL FOODS PRESENTATION

Rationale of Novel Food legislation for ingredient innovations

Karin Verzijden presented a topic on the status quo of Novel Foods (NF) in the EU under the new Regulation, in which she focused on the rationale of NF legislation for ingredient innovations. As reported earlier, a new NF Regulation was presented by the Commission in December 2013, which was heavily amended based on the input from EP Rapporteur Nicholson. In November 2014, the ENVI Committee accepted draft legislation including most of the Nicholson amendments. This text represents the current status quo of NF legislation and now awaits first reading in the European Parliament (EP). The EP approved text will constitute the final legal framework.

Alternative proteins

Developments in alternative proteins, meaning proteins derived from other than animal sources, was a key trend at Vitafoods, reported FoodIngredientsFirst. Amongst those sources for alternative proteins are algae, insects and duckweed inter alia. In the presentation made at Vitafoods, the importance to know the regulatory status of each of these sources of ingredients was explained (“Begin with the end in mind“). Ingredients that have been marketed as a source of food in the EU prior to 1997 to a significant extent are clearly outside the scope of the Novel Foods Regulation. As a consequence, they are not subject to pre-market authorization, at least not based on the NF requirements. If to the contrary, no valid case for a history of safe use can be made, then it is likely that a NF authorization will have to be obtained.

Regulatory status of algae

Such history of safe use was already established for various algae, like for instance specific types of the Chlorella and Laminaria algae. As a consequence, these ingredients can be used for food products without being subject to NF authorization, both under the current and future legal regime. The same does not apply to for instance the Rhodymenia palmata, regarding which so far only evidence on use as a food supplement is present. Such use can be of support to demonstrate the safety thereof, but as a single source will not be enough to market the product as a NF. For that purpose, it is likely that a NF authorization will have to be obtained.

Regulatory status of insects

Insects are well-known to be a rich source of proteins. Under the current NF legal framework, they are not considered to be Novel Foods, at least not explicitly so. This is likely to change under the new NF Regulation, as one of the new NF product categories reads “Food consisting of, isolated / produced from animals or their parts, including whole animals like insects, except where a history of safe use within the Union can be established”. As pointed out in one of our previous blogposts, this is contrary to the practice in some Members States, where the safety of various insects as a food ingredient has been established. Also, in practice, various insect based products are effectively marketed – examples can be found here and here. It will therefore be interesting to see if those products will be subject to enforcement measures of national health authorities. We believe that the longer those products have been marketed the more difficult this will be based on, amongst others, the principle of legal certainty.

Regulatory status of duckweed

Duckweed is reported to contain, depending on its cultivation procedure, 40 % proteins, whereas it grows much quicker than algae. Therefore this aquatic biomass could be an interesting source of alternative proteins too. Under the current legal framework, it would certainly be an option to investigate if any substantial equivalence to existing foods could be established. As a starting point, the protein RuBisCo, that occurs both in duckweed and in many green plants could be taken. If this is of no avail, it is interesting to know that under the future legal framework, the short cut authorization based on traditional foods from third countries might be available. Such will depend on the outcome of research into duckweed as a source of food in those countries, regarding which in such case a history of safe use for 25 years will have to be demonstrated.

WRAP-UP LABELLING PRESENTATION

Designing clearer labels for consumers

Since the entry into force of the Food Information to Consumers Regulation (“FIC Regulation”) on 13 December 2014, some experience has been gained with the new labelling rules applicable to all food products sold to end consumers. Sofie van der Meulen presented a topic on labelling, explaining the new requirements and how these are applied in practice.

Scope

The FIC Regulation aims to modernize, simplify and clarify the food-labelling scene by recasting the horizontal labelling provisions and merging them into one single Regulation. However, labelling is still not fully harmonised due to language requirements and room for national measures, for example on allergens and additional mandatory information to be stated on the label.

The provisions of the FIC Regulation are supposed to enable consumers to choose a healthy diet and they apply to food business operators (“FBO’s”) in all stages of the food chain who supply food to the final consumer. The FBO under whose name the food is marketed or the importer into the Union market is responsible for compliance. Since a lot of products are sold via the internet nowadays, the FIC Regulation explicitly applies to online sales of food products as well. Consumers’ have to receive particular information in a webshop prior to the purchase of the food product.

Food information

In general, food information shall not be misleading, must be accurate and shall not attribute pharmaceutical characteristics to food. The latter because the food would then be covered by the medicinal products Directive.

Article 9 of the FIC Regulation lists the mandatory particulars to be stated on all labels. Where should the information be stated? With regards to prepacked food, the information should be stated directly on the product or on a label attached thereto. The information should be easily visible and clearly legible. That’s is why detailed legibility requirements are laid down in the FIC Regulation. The minimum font size of the characters should be 1.2 mm or 0.9 mm if the packaging is smaller than 80 cm². The language used on the label should be a language that is easy understandable in the Member State where the food product is marketed. In practice most FBO’s decide to use the official language of the Member State on their labels, or, as a very minimum, on their website.

Allergens

Declaring the presence of any of the 14 listed allergenic ingredients has been a requirement since 2003. However, under the FIC Regulation the way they should be declared has changed. For prepacked foods allergens must be listed in the list of ingredients with a clear reference to the name of the allergen as listed in Annex II of the Regulation. Furthermore, the presence must be emphasized by using a different typeset that distinguishes them from the rest of the ingredients. This can be achieved by using a different font, style or background colour. The provision of allergen information for non-prepacked foods sold in, inter alia, cafes, canteens and restaurants are subject to national requirements. In the Netherlands this information can be provided orally, but for example in Ireland this information has to be provided in a written format.

Country of Origin Labelling

As of 1 April 2015 Country of Origin Labelling (‘COOL’) has been extended from beef to other unprocessed meats widely consumed in the EU. See this previous blogpost for more information on this particular extension. In the future, mandatory COOL could be further extended under the FIC Regulation and become applicable to other products such as milk and milk products and also to processed meats.

Nutrition declaration and the use of health and nutrition claims

Under the FIC Regulation, a nutrition declaration will become mandatory for most food products as from 13 December 2016. However, if health and nutrition claims are used, including a nutrition declaration on the label is already mandatory.

The nutrition declaration should state the energy value in calories and the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and salt. This information should, as a main rule, be expressed per 100 g or 100 ml in order to enable the consumer to compare products and make a choice for a healthy diet. Exceptions apply to food supplements and mineral waters.

Consequences of non-compliance

Non-compliance could give rise to administrative sanctions such as administrative fines. Intended mislabelling could qualify as forgery under criminal law and be prosecuted. A Dutch meat trader was recently sentenced to 2.5 years in prison, as he was found guilty of forgery when horsemeat was not declared on the label of beef products. The Dutch Food Safety Authority currently focuses on misleading information on prepacked foods in 2015.

Conclusion

Both the topic of Novel Foods and Labelling is expected to evolve over time. For Novel Foods this is the case, since the legal framework has not yet been finalized. For labelling, this also applies, as the Commission still has to provide input on specific topics and also at national level, there is some room for manoeuvre. At Food Health Legal, we continue to follow and report these developments. Stay posted and do send us your comments!