Novel foods are foods which have not been widely consumed by people in the UK or European Union (EU) before May 1997. This means that the foods don’t have a ‘history of consumption’. Examples of novel foods include:
- new foods, for example, phytosterols and phytostanols used in cholesterol reducing spreads
- traditional foods eaten elsewhere in the world, for example, chia seeds, baobab
- foods produced from new processes, for example, bread treated with ultraviolet light to increase the level of vitamin D present
Novel foods need to be authorised before they can be placed on the market in Great Britain (GB).