Hoping to get through on the 'substantially-equivalent' ticket under the Novel Foods Regulation (EC) No 258/97, the exporter Canadian company Praire Lane last month applied to the UK Food Standards Agency to keep its Saskatoon berry in the shops. But the FSA pulled the product from the shelves, fuelling complaints from growers in Canada.
According to the EU rules on novel foods and food ingredients, any food and food ingredient that was not part of the European diet before 1997 must undergo food safety and nutrition testing by a national authority in one of the member countries before they can be sold anywhere in the EU. Another state can delay approval if it has safety concerns.
The rules are not applicable to food additives, flavourings or extraction solvents.
"The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) has provisionally reached the view that the saskatoon berry product will need a full pre-market safety evaluation before legally sold," a spokesperson for the FSA told FoodNavigator.com.
In short, the watchdog has refused the 'substantially equivalent' path which saw the Canadian importer trying to push the berry through as similar to the blueberry. Saskatoons first arrived in England a few years ago, and growers had argued that they are so similar to blueberries that they should be exempt from the regulations. Had the committee accepted the premise, the saskatoon berry could be up for sale again. The FSA claims that the product was only sold in UK retailer Waitrose and far from widespread.
But the Canadian growers are disappointed. "It's really frustrating," Gordon Pugh, deputy director of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's trade division for the Eastern Hemisphere is quoted as saying this week in the Canadian newspaper theGlobe and Mail. It seems so silly that this could be considered a novel food, he added. Prairie Lane Saskatooms owner, the only exporter affected by the ruling, has not disclosed what volume of saskatoons he has been shipping to Britain, but he told the Canadian paper that he still plans to buy from 80 farmers this year.
The consultation period for views on the saskatoon finished this week at the FSA. Should the provisional FSA view be confirmed, the exporter is looking at a minimum of 18 months to clear the safety hurdles and nutritional, toxicological, and microbiological tests could taken even longer.
Recent history has shown that the wheels of approval turn slowly in Brussels. The European Commission informed FoodNavigator.com that between 1997 and 2002 out of a total of 37 applications only six novel foods were approved and two turned down. Products given the green light were coagulated potato proteins and hydrolysates, trehalose, pasteurised fruit-based preparations produced using high-pressure pasteurization, dextran preparation produced by Leuconostoc mesenteroides, yellow fat spreads with added phytosterol esters, phospholipides from egg yolk. Nangai nuts and the plant (dried leaves) Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni were rejected.
But Prairie Lane will not be the only company disappointed by the news. In February this year fruit ingredients stalwart J.O. Sims launched the new nutty berry onto the market marking a fresh revenue source, now threatened, for the 100-year-old UK company.
With an almond-cherry taste profile, and a member of the apple family, saskatoon berries were available in the UK for the first time after 10 years on Canadian supermarket shelves.
"This is a big opportunity for the food industry, particularly those working in bakery and beverages, and those looking for novel ingredients," Jim McKee at the fruits ingredients company told FoodNavigator.com at the time.
The Lincolnshire-based company had claimed that the almond-cherry flavour of the fruit gives manufacturers the advantage of providing a nutty flavour without having nuts in the factory.
Prairie Lane was the key motivator behind the Canadian Saskatoon berry market, set to rise from 3 million lbs last year to 10 million lbs by 2005. J.O. Sims had set up a sourcing agreement for the supply of saskatoons from this Manitoba grower responsible for 60 per cent of Canada's saskatoon crop.
Launched recently in snack pots by Waitrose, plans by J.O. Simms - the Ocean Spray cranberry agent for over 40 years - to get the saskatoon berries into a range of food applications will have to be put on hold if the provisional view of the FSA committee is confirmed.
A major source of revenue, the UK company said that berries now account for 80 per cent of total ingredient sales.