The undersigned associations consider that the exclusion of any innovative sector, like novel foods from regulatory sandboxes is not justified on legal, scientific or innovation grounds and creates an internal inconsistency within the Biotech Act framework. Including novel foods under the sandbox scheme would not alter the safety standard or the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283.
It would instead enhance the quality, predictability and efficiency of scientific risk assessment for the most innovative and technologically advanced food products. Including novel foods within this framework would strengthen the quality of safety assessments, improve EFSA pre-submission dialogue, support the validation of innovative methodologies, and ensure that the regulatory system evolves in step with scientific and technological progress in the EU food sector.
We therefore invite the Commission and co-legislators to ensure that novel foods can benefit from regulatory sandboxes under the same science-based conditions applicable to other regulated food categories.
