ACNFP
THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NOVEL FOODS AND PROCESSES
ACNFP Secretariat
Food Standards Agency
Room 515b Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London WC2B 6NH
Tel: +44 (0)20 7276 8595
Fax: +44 (0)20 7276 8564
acnfp@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Noni Juice: Morinda Inc
April 2000: Application from Morinda Inc to the Belgium Competent Authority to approve noni juice (juice of the fruit of Morinda citrifolia) as a novel food. Authorised June 2003.
About noni juice
Noni juice comes from the fruit commonly known as 'noni'. But it's also known as 'Indian mulberry' and 'nonu'. It is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia and to have been distributed subsequently by ancient voyagers or other means into the Pacific islands, including Tahiti and Hawaii.
The plant is also found in India, Africa and the West Indies. It resembles a small evergreen shrub or tree that grows from three to six metres. Its fruit are green until maturity, when they rapidly turn to a light yellow and then a translucent white.
Novel food assessment
Before any new food product can be introduced on the European market it must be rigorously assessed for safety. An application is first made to a single EU Member State. Once this application has been accepted the Member State has 90 days to produce an initial opinion.
This opinion is then circulated to all EU Member States, who are then given a further 60 days to comment. In the UK, initial opinions on novel food applications from other Member States are considered by an independent committee of scientists appointed by the Food Standards Agency, the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP).
The Committee was asked to consider the Belgium Competent Authority initial opinion on this application at its November 2001 meeting. The comments from the Committee formed the basis for the UK�s view on this application, which can be found below.
The European Commission referred this application to the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) for further assessment on safety in light of the comments/objections raised by Member States. Following consideration of this application and further information provided by the applicant, the SCF published a favourable opinion on this novel food in December 2002. A copy of this opinion can be found below.
In June 2003 Morinda Inc was granted authorisation to market its noni juice in the EU by Commission Decision 2003/426/EC.
- SCF opinion on noni juice
Read the SCF opinion - EC decision on noni juice
(120KB)
Dated: 5 June 2003 - UK opinion (10 December 2001)
(24KB)
Read the UK opinion