Views Wanted on Shiitake Extract

Before any new food product can be introduced on the European market, it must be rigorously assessed for safety.

07/10/08 A Danish company has applied to the Agency for approval to market its lentinan-rich extract from shiitake mushrooms as a novel food supplement and novel food ingredient.

A novel food is a food or food ingredient that does not have a significant history of consumption within the European Union before 15 May 1997.

The company, GlycaNova (formerly known as Medimush) submitted its application in February 2008. This follows the company previously submitting an application in September 2006 under what is known as the ‘simplified procedure’. This is where a company considers a novel food or novel food ingredient ‘substantially equivalent’ to a food or food ingredient already on the market. However, in this case equivalence could not be demonstrated and so the full application, which can be found at the link below, was subsequently submitted.

Before any new food product can be introduced on the European market, it must be rigorously assessed for safety. In the UK, the assessment of novel foods is carried out by an independent committee of scientists appointed by the Food Standards Agency, the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP).