Expert2Expert – Exploring Health Claims and Novel Foods

The COVID pandemic dramatically accelerated certain changes in our food system. From digitalization to increased attention to nutrition by consumers, from the development of more sustainable frameworks to the research of new sources of proteins, innovation is running faster than regulation. The EU, with its Farm To Fork Strategy (F2F), is trying to catch up with such changes while keep granting the smooth functioning of the Single Market. In this context, tools like the Novel Food Regulation (NFR, Reg. EU 2015/2283) and the Nutrition Health Claims Regulation (NHCR, Reg. EC 1924/2006) are often perceived as an obstacle to innovation, due to high level of protection of consumers granted by the EU procedures. On top of that, some Member States are questioning the safety of certain novel foods or trying to restrict their marketing on a questionable scientific and legal basis.