Brussels, 28/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The way ahead is now clear for the adoption of updated European rules to facilitate the marketing of new biotechnology-derived foods in the EU that have passed the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) risk assessment tests.
During its plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 28 October, the European Parliament confirmed the final inter-institutional compromise on the December 2013 proposal to simplify and clarify the authorisation procedure for new foods, in an effort to encourage innovation in the food and drink industry, whilst striving to guarantee a high level of health protection for consumers (see EUROPE 11332).
This result effectively means that MEPs have definitively approved (by a small majority of 359 votes in favour, 202 against, 127 abstentions) the amendment of Regulation 258/97/EC on new foods and food ingredients (the so-called “Novel Food” directive), which required an update.
According to the terms of the new rules, there will only be one centralised authorisation procedure and the granting of authorisation for imported traditional foods from non-EU countries on to the market will be facilitated, without any concessions made on safety, because these foods will have to respond to high quality level standards. The regulation will also explicitly cover nano-materials and foodstuffs derived from animal cloning until the entry into force of specific rules in this connection.
Rapporteur, James Nicholson (ECR, United Kingdom) was satisfied with this result and described the compromise ratified as an improvement in the provisions on nano-materials, which strengthened the quality of life of animals by reducing tests on them and improving transparency because the Commission would publish the results of each authorisation online, as well as the list of demands rejected. He added that the precautionary principle had been cited and should be approved and that the revision of the data protection deadlines would help innovation.
It is now up to the Council of the EU to formally adopt this regulation. This final stage will mark the end of a saga lasting several years, given that the agreement had already been reached in 2009 on updating the Novel Food regulation, only for the dossier to be abandoned in 2011, following the disagreement between the European institutions on the legislation on animal cloning for food, which at the time, was part of the same legislative package. The EP did not succeed in making its demand for foodstuffs derived from animal cloning and their descendants mandatory. The question will again be raised in September whether there should be a general ban on cloning for human food or animal feed and to demand compulsory labelling on products derived from animal clones or their descendants (see EUROPE 11384).
The EPP, ALDE and the ECR groups said that industry was expecting this regulation to be passed. The Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL, EFDD and ENF have doubts about the application of the precautionary principle. They would have liked to have seen a ban on the use of nano-particles or their compulsory labelling at the bare minimum but were unsuccessful with their demands. Giovanni La Via (EPP, Italy), is the chair of the Environment, Health and Food Safety Committee and explained that the result from the trialogue was the “best possible” compromise even though it was not perfect.
Before the vote, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Adriukaitis, emphasised that since 1997, new foods had been developed and modes of consumption had evolved. He described the compromise as a “balanced result guaranteeing that only safe foods can be marketed but without putting a brake on innovation” and called on MEPs to give it their support. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)