AGRI-FOODS: COMMISSION REFUSES ONE NOVEL FOOD, BUT CLEARS ANOTHER.

• Position: Brief Article

Professeur J.Geuns from the KUL Laboratory of Plant Physiology made his application under Article 7 of Council Regulation 258/97/EC on novel foods or novel food ingredients. The first assessment report drawn up by the Belgian competent authorities (1998) concluded that, on the basis of the information provided, the product should not receive a marketing authorisation. In reaction to the initial assessment report, the applicant provided supplementary documentation to the European Commission, which brought this information to the attention of the Member States and the Scientific Committee for Food. The Committee adopted an opinion on June 17, 1999 which essentially confirmed the initial assessment report. On October 21, 1999, the EU's Standing Committee for Foodstuffs gave a favourable opinion on the present draft by unanimity.As for the application of the Belgian company Belovo for a marketing authorisation for its phospholipides from egg yolk, the Belgian authorities...