If you wish to market food in Europe, it is important to find out whether it is covered by the definition of a novel food.
To do this, you should consult the page Definition of novel foods.
To find out whether the food was used in food products in Europe before 1997, you can also consult the Novel food catalogue on the website of the European Commission. This catalogue does not list all ingredients and you will therefore have to gather information yourself from other sources about previous consumption.
If after examining all the available information you are still not sure whether the food that you wish to market in the European Union is a novel food, you can consult the Member State in which you would like to introduce the new food onto the market first. The steps for the consultation process for determination of novel food status are described in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/456. This document describes the information that must be included in the consultation request and the corresponding procedural steps.
The contact details of the authorities responsible for the consultation process in the member states can be found on the European Commission website. The steps in the consultation process in the Netherlands are stated in the Commodities Act on the consultation procedure for novel foods. The steps are outlined below. Consultation requests can be sent in the Netherlands by e-mail to the Novel Foods Unit.
