EU regulations stymie food innovation, says economist.

EU regulations stymie food innovation, says economist: FoodNavigator.com reports that novel foods regulation is presenting a serious barrier to innovation by food ingredients companies in Europe, according to a new economic review, threatening the industry's competitiveness on the global stage. The novel foods regulation was introduced in 1997 as a pre-market approval system for novel foods and food ingredients that do not have a significant history of consumption within the EU before May 15 1997. It is expected that the European Commission will propose a revision of the regulation this autumn, following an initial online consultation on revision initiated in June 2006. According to the news service, this revision is regarded by the industry as an opportunity to redraw approval procedures to be short, predictable and proportionate, and to reward innovators with exclusive market access.