Making Europe a leader in food innovation: fostering an efficient regulatory pathway for fermentation-enabled foods

Subject: Making Europe a leader in food innovation: fostering an efficient regulatory pathway for fermentation-enabled foods

The EU should set out a forward-looking regulatory framework if it wishes to position itself as a global pioneer in food innovation and avoid falling behind other regions.

This starts by addressing the regulatory obstacles hampering the production and marketing of fermentation-enabled foods, including animal-free egg and dairy alternatives, which have the potential to make Europe a leader in sustainable food innovation.

Against this backdrop:

1. Without prejudice to food security, does the Commission plan to address the challenges related to the food safety authorisation process, which are currently delaying the production of fermentation-enabled foods?

2. More specifically, does the Commission plan to better implement the Novel Foods Regulation by making it more open and transparent, and by providing timely and precise information and guidance to applicants?

3. What actions does the Commission plan to take to promote food innovation, including precision fermentation, and to position the EU as a global leader in the area of sustainable food innovation?

Submitted:4.12.2023

Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission (21 February 2024)

Fermentation products may fall within the scope of the Novel Food Regulation (1), which has been designed to allow for safe innovation in the EU food sector.

While the Commission acknowledges that authorisation processes can always be improved, food safety must remain their primary guiding objective.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), acting independently, requires time to conduct a thorough scientific safety assessment.

In this regard, the Commission and EFSA are examining and revising current approaches and processes for the assessment of novel foods, considering comments received from applicants.

This includes the revision of the EFSA guidance, which will take account of developments in risk assessment science based on the experience gained over the past years. Furthermore, it also intends to address the risk assessment of upcoming foods.

Under the Horizon programmes (2), in particular under Cluster 6 ‘Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment’, several projects supported research and innovation to promote dietary shift towards alternative sources of proteins, such as plant-based food.

The most recent projects focusing on alternative proteins (3) and microbiome (4) are listed in the Horizon Europe work programmes 2023 and 2024 (5).

1 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02015R2283-20210327

2 ∙ ⸱ https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-2020_en; https://research-and-

innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en 3 ∙ ⸱ https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101060536; https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101083961; https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/958660 4 ∙ ⸱ https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/horizon-cl6-2024-farm2fork-01-9 5 ∙ ⸱ https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2023-2024/wp-9-food-bioeconomy-natural-resources-agriculture-and- environment_horizon-2023-2024_en.pdf