Novel food: Dried pili nuts

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/267 of 8 February 2023 authorising the placing on the market of dried nuts of Canarium ovatum Engl. as a traditional food from a third country and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470

Update

The European Commission has authorised Canarium ovatum (pili nuts) to be placed on the EU market as a traditional food from a third country.

Impacted Products

nuts, pili nuts

What is changing?

The Commission will update the Annex to the Union list of novel foods to include dried pili nuts (C. ovatum).

Why?

A request to place dried pili nuts on the EU market was submitted in March 2019. Notification of the request was forwarded to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and Member States. No substantiated safety objections concerning this traditional food were received. EFSA (2022) concluded that placing it on the market does not raise any food safety concerns.

Timeline

Date of effect: 1 March 2023

Background

Pili nuts are produced only from C. ovatum varieties Laysa, Magnaye, M. Orolfo, Lanuza and Magayon. The edible part of the nut is the kernel; they can be placed on the market with or without the shell.

A novel food is defined as a food that has no significant history of consumption within the EU before 1997. This includes foods that have been newly developed, newly extracted from a source, or newly produced by a new process. A traditional food from a third country is considered to be a novel food (Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, Art. 3(2). See Novel foods explained.

Novel foods require pre-market authorisation, including a safety assessment to ensure that they are safe for human consumption. The authorisation to place dried pili nuts on the EU market is based on the history of safe use of the food in its country of origin, in this case the Philippines.

Resources

Sources

---

---