A coalition of organizations, including FoodDrinkEurope and EuropaBio, has urged the European Commission to include novel foods in its proposed regulatory sandboxes. These sandboxes are intended to create controlled environments for testing new food products and processes, aiming to improve study design, clarify data requirements, and reduce uncertainty before formal approval. However, the current framework excludes novel foods, a category encompassing many advanced biotechnological innovations. The groups argue this exclusion creates an inconsistency within the Biotech Act and is not justified on legal, scientific, or innovation grounds. They state that including novel foods would enhance the quality and efficiency of scientific risk assessments without altering existing EU safety requirements. The coalition warns that Europe risks lagging in food innovation if regulatory processes do not adapt, calling for novel foods to benefit from sandboxes under science based conditions.
Source: Industry coalition presses EU to include novel foods in Biotech Act sandboxes | PPTI News