Is monk fruit a novel ingredient or food in Europe?

08-Oct-2024 - Last updated on 08-Oct-2024 at 15:20 GMT

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), Ireland’s food safety regulator, has deemed monk fruit decoctions are no longer novel. Ireland was the last EU member state to make the approval.

Monk fruit decoctions are processed food ingredients made with the sub-tropical melon monk fruit, a low-calorie fruit grown in the mountains of Southern China for hundreds of years.

Monk fruit decoctions are different from monk fruit extract sweeteners, which are considered a food additive and which there is currently no approval for in the EU or UK.

Monk fruit decoctions were classified as ‘not novel’ in the UK earlier this year​. In June, the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) ruled there was evidence monk fruit decoctions were consumed in the UK.

The UK had initially considered it a novel food due to its membership of the EU, where it had been ruled they were not significantly consumed before May 1997. However, after the UK left the EU, Monk Fruit Corp, a monk fruit decoction supplier, submitted evidence to the FSA that monk fruits were consumed in the UK before this date.

At the time, Monk Fruit Corp speculated this approval could mean they would soon no longer be 'novel' in the EU as well.

Monk fruit decoctions were ruled as ‘not novel’ by the FSAI. It found evidence of them being consumed ‘to a significant degree’ within the EU before May 1997, after Monk Fruit Corp collected and submitted said evidence. By the EU’s standards, this means they are not novel.

“Monk Fruit Corp spent more than seven years collecting evidence of monk fruit decoction consumption and preparing a thorough and persuasive dossier for submission to the FSAI. There is a wide range of evidence that can be used to demonstrate history of use including sales invoices, official documents, cookbooks, and personal testimonies,” Monk Fruit Corp general manager of sales and marketing David Thorrold told FoodNavigator.

This means that the EU is now regulatorily aligned not only with the UK but with the US, Canada, Australia, India, Mexico, New Zealand and Israel when it comes to monk fruit decoctions.

“The new FSAI ruling unlocks the opportunity for monk fruit decoctions to be used as a naturally sweet, low-calorie ingredient in food and beverage products sold in the EU,” Monk Fruit Corp’s Thorrold says.

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