Sea Buckthorn Leaves and the Novel Food Evaluation

Novel food means any food that was not used for human consumption to a significant degree within the European Union before 1997. The novel food regulation (EC) 258/97 concerns also foods and food ingredients consisting of or isolated from plants, except the food having a history of safe food use within the European Union before 1997. According to the knowledge thus far, sea buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides L.) leaves have not been used to a significant degree as food, food supplement, or spice in European Union before 1997. The new regulation on novel foods (EU) No. 2015/2283 (Anonymous, 2015) comes into force in the beginning of 2018. After that also history of safe use in a third country is accepted as information of its traditional use. This means continued use for at least 25 years in the customary diet of a significant number of people. Novel food application has to include the description of the product, production process, characteristics and composition, proposed uses and use levels, anticipated intake, history of its use, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, nutritional and toxicological information and allergenicity. Sea buckthorn leaves have been under active research lately and a lot of information is already available, but safety assessment required for novel food evaluation may still be needed.