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“Workshop on the revision of the Novel Food Regulation (NFR)•
Views and experiences regarding traditional foods •”
1 December 2005 at Eurovillage Hotel, Brussels,
Belgium
Organized by CBI and UNCTAD BioTrade.
Partners: GTZ, GFU and IPGRI
Description
The BTFP work with exporters of
natural ingredients has experienced that NFR, as currently applied, is
in direct conflict with the aim of promoting sustainable trade of
biodiversity-based food products and is preventing small-scale farmers
and communities in developing countries from using their rich botanical
heritage to improve their economic situation.
A wide range of traditional foods
potentially available from developing countries is being denied access
to the EU by over-strict interpretation of the NFR, which fails to
differentiate fails between genuinely new foods that have not been
consumed anywhere before, and foods that are merely new to Europe and
are only “novel” due to an arbitrary cut-off date in legislation that
was not intended directly for them. They must therefore undergo a
stringent, formal EU safety assessment and pre-market authorisation, for
which scientific and administrative demands are considerable,
potentially lengthy and expensive, and place a heavy and
disproportionate burden on potential exporters.
The Commission recognised this,
and proposed possible solutions in its own Discussion Paper in 2002.
Ongoing efforts of the UNCTAD/BTFP build on the merits of the
Commission’s suggestions and explore further options for change from the
perspective of developing countries, based on the premise that
traditional foods with a long history of human consumption should be
considered separately from truly “innovative” products such as novel
additives and food chemicals.
The objective of the workshop is
to present technical suggestions for the revision of the directive (as
proposed in UNCTAD-CBI's discussion paper) and to hear perspectives from
developing countries and European Health and Consumer Protection
Institutions. Exporters from developing countries, as well as European
importers will also be present.
The BTFP’s contributions are
helping developing countries to export their natural biodiversity, as
well as facilitating resource sustainability and the achievement of
development objectives in the exporting countries.
 Minutes
of this workshop are available
Download
Programme
Participants
List
Download Background Documents
and Presentations
Discussion paper: Impact on the Potential Exports of Exotic
Traditional Foods to the EU: Suggestions for Revision
Paper commissioned by UNCTAD/CBI to Neville Craddock
Associates
Missing the Market: Issue paper
Issue paper produced by UNCTAD, the CBI, GTZ, GFU and IPGRI
Presentation: EU Novel Food Regulation Review Outline of Proposed Revisions CBI -
UNCTAD
(ppt
presentation)
Neville
Craddock , CBI - UNCTAD Consultant
Biodiversity and traditional foods in developing countries
Michael Hermann,
International
Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI)
The Case of Araza, an exotic fruit from the Amazon in Ecuador
Marcelo Romero , Romero Kotre Inc
The Case of Gooseberry Amla from India
Benny Antony, PhD Technical Director, Arjuna Natural Extracts
Ltd.
The Case of
Lucuma from Peru
Lidwine Dellaert, Prolucuma
Novelfoods and exports from Africa
Cyril Lombard, PhytoTrade Africa
Perspective on the impact of the EU Novel Food Regulation;
Peru: a developing country
Pedro Bravo, Counselor of the Permanent Mission of Peru to
the European Union
Views and experiences regarding traditional foods
Mark Hein, Entrepreneur on behalf of the IPPN – Peruvian
Institute of Natural Products
Opinion Regarding the Novel Food Regulation for general
reconciliation
Paul J. Greineder, Managing Director Pharmos Natur GMBH (German
company)
Click
here
for more Information on
Novel foods
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