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
Chia seed - The Chia Company
February 2010. Application from The Chia Company for an opinion on the equivalence of chia seed grown in Australia, compared with the Columbus Paradigm chia seed which is grown in South America. Under evaluation
Chia (Salvia hispanica L) is a summer annual herbaceous plant belonging to the mint family. Today, Chia is grown commercially in several Latin American countries and Australia, but they have not been consumed to a significant degree in Europe and are therefore considered novel.
The applicant intends to limit the use of its chia seed to bread products at a maximum level of 5%. This is consistent with the recent authorisation given to Columbus Paradigm.
In all cases to date, the Commission has required that the applicant first obtain an opinion on substantial equivalence from a Member State. The Chia Company requested such an opinion from the UK Competent Authority on the equivalence of its chia seed to the authorised chia seed from Columbus Paradigm. Any comments on this application should be sent to the ACNFP Secretariat by 25 February 2010 and will be passed to the Committee when it begins its assessment of this novel food ingredient.
All views/comments received by the Agency will be made available for public examination. If you would prefer your comments NOT to be made publicly available, please indicate this by fully completing and returning the data protection form (attached below) together with your response.
- Chia Seed Application Chia company
(3MB)
- Data protection form
(39KB)