Food (In)Security: The Role of Novel Foods on Sustainability

Abstract

Food production today impacts heavily on the environment and available resources while at the same time failing to provide equal access to food security and healthy diets for everyone. To improve this situation, food production systems need to be redesigned in a more circular way, minimising food waste, developing new technologies, and exploiting novel biomasses for food production. Novel Foods are the consequence of this evolution and can play a pivotal role towards the target of providing sustainably produced, secure, and healthy food for everyone.

1 Introduction

What do Novel Foods have to do with Sustainability and Food Security? The relationship suggested by the title might appear odd at a first sight, but the data and the considerations presented in this chapter will hopefully make clear the profound connection existing between these concepts. Indeed, it will be shown how Novel Foods can play a definite role in helping the transition to a world where food security for everyone and sustainable food production everywhere will be cornerstones for a new sustainability paradigm.

Let’s start by defining what is meant by sustainability. In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.¹ Clear as this definition is, it does not indicate how it is possible to meet the present needs without compromising the future generation’s needs. As of today, are development and progress not inextricably intertwined with a ceaseless consumption of all our available resources? Is the only possible solution to stop the depletion of our resources to give up on development and progress? Stated in plain words, is Sustainable Development ever possible?

The United Nations (UN), and many with them, believe in the concept of Sustainable Development as the way to meet both sustainability and development goals. In 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.² With its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2030 Agenda is a collection of impressive targets ranging from zeroing poverty and hunger, achieving health, wellbeing, peace, justice, and education for all, reducing inequality while at the same time ensuring economic growth, industry and infrastructure innovation as well as responsible consumption and production. In order for such ambitious programs to be met, a combination of many efforts and solutions will be required to achieve development and sustainability at the same time.

Sustainable food production is a core aspect of the SDGs. As we will see in detail in the next sections, food production and consumption are among the most unsustainable and inefficient human activities today. They put an enormous burden on the environment and the available resources, while at the same time spectacularly failing to provide secure access to healthy and nutritional food for all. In addition, enormous amounts of wasted materials are left behind. In short, today our situation is characterized by unsustainable food production together with food insecurity for many of the inhabitants of this planet. This scenario seems to present an insuperable conundrum: to secure food production for everyone in a world where the human population is growing every day, we would need to produce more food. At the same time, the amount of food produced today already exceeds the available resources and the possibility to accommodate the waste produced. In short, we need to produce more, but we cannot afford to produce more.

The solution to this apparent Catch-22 situation lies in a paradigm shift: the transition to sustainable and secure food production for all will require a complete rethinking of today’s technological solutions, means of production, food ingredients, and consumption habits. This incredibly difficult challenge will require multiple diverse solutions and profound changes in our current knowledge, habits, and approach. Though it might not be immediately evident, such changes have already begun, and Novel Foods already have, and will continue to have, a clear role in this transition, as I will elucidate.

2 Food (In)Security and Food Production (Un)Sustainability

The latest Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report on global Food Security depicts a grim landscape as far as food inequality is concerned.³ This report estimates that between 720 and 811 million people in the world experienced hunger in 2020. Of those, more than half were found in Asia (418 million) and more than one-third in Africa (282 million). In addition to hunger, many more people are unable to access diets meeting basic nutritional standards. Healthy diets have high costs which, combined with the high levels of poverty and income inequality in the poorest parts of the world, result in nutritionally inadequate food intake for nearly 2.37 billion people. This means that more than one-fourth of the human population today experiences one form or another of food insecurity, as they do not regularly eat what they need to preserve health and wellbeing.

The same report describes in detail the external and internal factors which drive food insecurity. External factors are there for all to see: conflicts, poverty, climate change. They are all causing food insecurity and are often also interconnected. Conflicts cause poverty, and poverty causes conflicts, and all this exacerbates food insecurity, already compounded in many parts of the world by climate change. Internal factors are somehow less obvious, but equally important, if not more. They point directly to low productivity, inefficient use of raw ingredients, and inefficient food supply chains. These internal factors show that our food production system is entirely unable to face the task of food security for everybody. This inadequacy increases the costs and reduces the availability of healthy and nutritious foods, pushing healthy diets out of reach for many human beings.

This problem does not equally impact all parts of the world, as we have already seen above. Looking at the differing intake of macronutrients in diet, the inequality existing in our world emerges in all its crudeness. Richer countries have a much larger share of high-quality animal proteins in their diet, with an almost perfectly linear correlation between average income and proteins consumed. Countries with an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person below $5000 have an average prevalence of animal protein in the diet that never exceeds 2–4%, whereas this latter figure rises to 10% and above when the average GDP per person approaches $50,000.⁴ It is a well-known phenomenon seen in recent decades in developing countries that as soon as the average GDP increases, animal protein consumption immediately increases with it. Lower-income countries rely on a less diversified and mostly cereal-based diet. When the average GDP per person is less than $5000, the prevalence of cereals in the diet is far above 50%, and up to 80% in the poorest countries. This number drops below 20% in the richest countries. Fruit and vegetable consumption, an important part of a healthy diet, are below guidelines in many countries of South America, Africa, and the poorest countries of Asia. Summarizing all the above data, simply stated, poor countries eat a large quantity of cereals, and very little animal proteins, fruit, and vegetables, whereas rich countries eat fewer cereals, and have adequate or more than adequate amounts of high-quality proteins, fruits, and vegetables in their diet. Thus, high-income countries (mostly in North America, Europe, and far east Asia) have access to better diets than low-income countries (mostly in Africa, South America, and the rest of Asia).

But the description of a world divided into rich and poor countries, with everyone in the former eating better than everyone in the latter, is not completely accurate. In every country, rich or poor, there are also vertical differences within the population, again driven by the diverse incomes. Thus, even in rich countries, the part of the population with the lowest income faces food insecurity, in percentages ranging from 8% to 20% of the total population.⁵ It is to be noted, and this is particularly true for rich countries, that nutritionally poor diets do not always take the form of hunger or undernutrition. When access to nutritious foods (costly and sometimes unavailable) is restricted, the consumption of less nutritious foods (cheaper and more readily available) can lead to obesity, which is ultimately another form of malnutrition. The reduction in the diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy products, and the increase in foods high in fat, sugar, and salt (usually much cheaper than the former), leads to overweight and obese children and adults in poor as well as in rich countries. The coexistence in this world of overweight and underweight people is the most striking display of how the target of healthy food security for everyone is badly managed. About 1.9 billion adults worldwide are overweight, while 462 million are underweight. 41 million children under the age of 5 years are overweight or obese, while at the same time more than 200 million children are failing to develop properly.⁶

Thus, the obvious question is: how to tackle this situation and reduce inequality, granting food security and good diets for everyone? One solution would be to secure universal easy access to healthy foods at an affordable price. This obvious solution dictates, however, that we produce more, above all increasing the amount of healthy food produced, ideally at reduced costs. Secondly, we need not only to produce more but also to make sure that healthy food is equally distributed and accessible all over the world. At the same time, we must remember that the world population continues to increase, and this will require more food production. According to some estimates, by 2050 60% more food will be needed to be able to properly feed a world population of 9.3 billion.⁷

As clear as this solution seems, we simply cannot afford it with the food production systems employed today. As a simple example, if we focus only on animal proteins, human nutritionists recommend that about one-third of the daily protein requirement originate from proteins of animal origin.⁸ This is much lower than the present average consumption throughout the world, however, and so we should increase animal protein production. But animal protein production has an extreme impact on the environment and on the available resources: about 200 square meters of arable land⁹ and 15,000 L of water¹⁰ are consumed to produce 1 kg of beef meat. This simple example demonstrates a very inconvenient reality: we simply cannot support nine billion people on an animal protein-rich diet in 2050. In the absence of technological changes and mitigation measures, the environmental impact of food production will increase by that time by 50–90%, reaching levels that are beyond the planetary boundaries which define a safe operating space for humanity.¹¹

Adding further impact to environmental resources and also making the inefficiency of our food production systems quite clear, is the huge amount of food waste generated all along the food production chain, at the production, distribution, and household levels. In 2011, a report by the FAO estimated that about one-third of food produced globally was lost or wasted, up to an impressive 1.3 billion tonnes each year,¹² with industrialized and developing countries each wasting roughly the same amount of food. It has been believed for a long time that food waste at the household level took place largely in developed countries, while production, storage, and transportation losses were concentrated in developing countries. However, recent reports indicate that even in low-income countries household food waste is substantial.¹³ Those recent estimates place food waste at levels ranging from 60 to 120 kg/capita/year, with no real differences between high-income and low-income countries, possibly suggesting that the total amount of food waste is even higher than what has been previously estimated. The possibility to reduce food waste or to valorise it as a new source of food would save plenty of soil and water destined for food production and allow for a transition to a more sustainable world.

Thus, the steps towards healthy and affordable diets for everyone necessarily lead to redesigning food production systems in a more ‘circular’ way, minimizing food waste and food loss, rethinking the logistics of food distribution, valorising more local resources in food production, developing new technologies to create more durable and healthy foods, exploiting underused and neglected biomasses as food ingredients, improving the safety of food material, studying new methods for animal and vegetal production, and implementing in the population a shift to more healthy and sustainable diets. Those are certainly a huge tasks, but ones that certainly must be endured if we want to achieve the above targets of food security and food sustainability in a world of nine billion people.

Novel Foods, as we shall see in the following sections, are part of these solutions.

3 Novel Foods: What They Are and How They Can Support Food Security and Sustainable Food Production

Novel Foods are defined in the European Union as foods that do not have a significant history of consumption, or, foods produced by a method that has not previously been used. Specifically, according to EU legislation, the status of a Novel Food, as well as its authorization for commercialization, must be requested for every food that had not been consumed to a significant degree by humans in the EU before 15 May 1997. The protocol for the authorization and the use of Novel Foods, also including Novel Food ingredients, has been harmonized in the European Union through a specific Regulation¹⁴ adopted indeed in 1997. A new regulation, adopted by the EU in 2015, laid down the rules for placing Novel Foods on the market within the Union so as to ensure the effective functioning of the internal market while providing a high level of protection for human health and consumer interests.¹⁵

The procedure for placing a Novel Food on the market, as outlined by the above Regulations, has been elucidated in other chapters in this volume in detail.^16,17

An important distinction that exists under the current legislation concerns Novel Foods that are entirely new, in the sense that they do not have a history of consumption anywhere in the world, as compared to foods that are only new to the European Union but do have a history of consumption in other parts of the world. These latter foods, addressed in more depth in the third chapter of this volume, are referred to as traditional food from a third country, and their approval as Novel Foods in the EU follows a slightly different procedure.¹⁸

Since 2017, the European Commission maintains a European Union list of all the approved Novel Foods.¹⁹ The list includes their conditions of use, labelling requirements, and specifications. This Union list serves as a reference for economic operators who wish to place on the market an authorized Novel Food unless data protection is requested by the applicant. As per the first months of 2022, about 200 Novel Foods and Novel Food ingredients have been authorized in the market of the European Union.

An important first consideration when assessing Novel Foods is to try to understand the reason for their coming into existence. Why should something that has not been consumed before 1997 be consumed now? Or in other words, what are the dietary or other needs that Novel Foods are trying to satisfy that are not properly satisfied by the already existing foods? To understand this point, it might be interesting to have a critical look at the list of Novel Foods approved until now to explore the reasons at the basis of their commercialization. If we look critically at the approximately 200 Novel Foods approved so far, we might categorize them in several subgroups: (a) new foods or ingredients deriving from sources having a low environmental impact; (b) new foods or ingredients deriving from sources not traditionally used in the EU; (c) new foods or ingredients deriving from food by-products; and (d) new foods or ingredients produced with new technologies, including chemical synthesis. The fact that almost every Novel Food approved falls in one (or sometimes simultaneously in more than one) of the above categories already gives some strong indications on the reasons for their existence: Novel Foods are an attempt at using as food ingredients sources never used before, or to apply technologies never used before. This strongly suggests that Novel Foods are the consequence of modifications already happening in our food production system, even if it is not immediately clear why these new sources, or these new technologies, should be included in our food production systems, and why we cannot be content with what we have now.

Looking at the list in an even deeper way, a common point which characterizes almost all approved Novel Foods emerges, a point which is the key core element behind their entrance in our markets: almost all the approved Novel Foods have been characterized as containing compounds that are known to have or are supposed to have a positive impact on the state of health and wellbeing. The list of Novel Foods contains foods that, through specific compounds or specific ingredient composition, are beneficial for our health. Simply stated, Novel Foods are there to improve our health and wellbeing in new ways not guaranteed by the traditional foods already present in our markets. This is the real core reason why Novel Foods have entered and keep entering our lives.

It is important to underline that the authorization of the European Commission (and the EFSA assessment before that) for the commercialization of Novel Foods is not based on their beneficial properties, since this is out of the scope of the Novel Food Regulation. According to that regulation, EFSA performs a risk assessment on the safety of a Novel Food upon request by the European Commission. A candidate Novel Food is not requested to be beneficial, only to be safe, and not nutritionally disadvantageous. Thus, the Novel Foods present in the Union list are not there because of their beneficial content, but simply because they have been demonstrated to be safe. And yet, the beneficial compounds contained in them are, for the most part, the very reason why these Novel Foods came into existence and why they are commercialized today.

Thus, according to the above considerations, and taking into account what has been described at the beginning of this chapter, we can state that Novel Foods are there because they allow us to redesign our food production system (by using food by-products, or new sources with low impact, or new technologies) while at the same time providing high quality foods and food ingredients which help our state of wellbeing and health in ways never before experienced in European Union. Novel Foods, when we see them from this perspective, play a pivotal role in the transition to a system producing more and healthier food that is also more sustainably produced.

To further demonstrate this point, in the following pages some typical examples of Novel Foods will be presented, describing how they fulfil the role of helping the transition to a more sustainable, equal, healthier, and more nutritious food production system. The Novel Foods I will address have been approved for consumption in the European Union, but as the examples will demonstrate, many of them can find applications for improving equal access to sustainable healthy food all over the world.

3.1 Novel Healthy and Nutritious Foods from Sustainable Sources: Insects and Microalgae

Edible insects are probably the most known Novel Foods authorized in the EU, and the fastest developing, even if they entered the list very recently. As of February 2022, there are three Novel Foods in the list belonging to this category: dried Tenebrio molitor larva (the common mealworm), frozen, dried, and powder form of Locusta migratoria (the migratory locust), both authorized in 2021, and frozen dried, and powder form of Acheta domesticus (the house cricket), authorized in 2022. Many more requests for authorization are pending, thus the number of edible insects is expected to increase substantially in the coming years.

Without entering into too much detail,²⁰ insects are a typical example of Novel Foods that play a clear role in improving food security, providing nutritious diets for everyone and lowering environmental impact all at the same time. Indeed, insects are an excellent source of important nutrients, first and foremost highly nutritious proteins, which, as we have seen above, will be in great demand in the next 30 years. The protein content of an insect meal can reach 76% of the dry matter, depending on the insect type and development stage.²¹ At the same time, insects, unlike other sources of highly nutritious animal proteins, are very resource-efficient: the production of 1 kg of insect proteins requires only 1.7 kg of cereals, less than 100 L of water, consumes 15 m² of arable land, and emits in the atmosphere 1 g of CO₂. For the sake of comparison, the production of the same number of bovine proteins requires 10 kg of cereals, 15,000 L of water, consumes 200 m² of arable land, and emits in the atmosphere 2850 g of CO₂. Moreover, the raising of common livestock produces methane gas, a major contributor to global warming/climate change, and nitrous oxide and ammonia are also released by cattle into our environment. Raising insects produces between 10 to 80 times less methane gas than does the raising of cattle, and 8–12 times less ammonia. Another important point regarding insects as food concerns the reduction of inequalities: farming insects does not require large tracts of land or expensive machinery, thus even the poorest segment of the population can do it profitably. Insect production can therefore strongly contribute to increasing the income of the poorest parts of the world. Last, but certainly not least, insects can thrive on food by-products, thus they can be used to reduce the production of food waste, valorising it and transforming it into insect biomass of high nutritional value while at the same time reducing environmental burden.²²

All the above numbers and considerations demonstrate how insects are Novel Foods that can help to secure a healthy diet for everyone while at the same time reducing inequality and the environmental impact of food production.

Microalgal Novel Foods, as opposed to insects, have been present in the Union list since the beginning. As of February 2022, there are five different Novel Foods (with some variants) based on microalgal biomasses. Some of them simply consist in the dried algal biomass (Odontella aurita microalgae, dried Tetraselmis chuii microalgae), whereas others are food ingredients derived from the microalgal biomass (Oil from the microalgae Ulkenia sp., oil from the microalgae Schizochytrium sp, oleoresin from Haematococcus pluvialis). All of the above microalgal Novel Foods have significant amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, or antioxidants, depending on the species. Odontella aurita is rich in eicosapentaenoic acid, and it has been demonstrated that a diet rich in this microalga prevents insulin resistance resulting from high-fat diets.²³ Tetraselmis chuii has a high protein content rich in essential amino acids, and it has been proposed in the formulation of food to increase the protein nutritional profile, and as a protein supplement.²⁴ The oil from the microalgae belonging to the species Ulkenia is also high in omega-3 fatty acids and is used as an ingredient in baked goods. Also, the oil from the microalgae belonging to the species Schizochytrium is extremely rich in unsaturated fatty acids and has very high levels of docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic acid. For this reason, it is used as an additive in a wide range of foods, including infant formulas and baby foods, or as a food supplement, particularly for pregnant women. The oleoresin from Haematococcus pluvialis is extremely rich in carotenoid antioxidants, and specifically astaxanthin, making it a useful food additive for preparing food with high antioxidant properties.

As stated above, the content of the beneficial compounds described has not been considered when approving these products as Novel Foods (only their safety was assessed), but this is undoubtedly the reason why these products entered the market. There are many foods already in the market with high protein content, or that are rich in unsaturated fatty acids or antioxidants. Why, then, introduce microalgae as Novel Foods? The reasons are very similar to what we have already seen for insects: microalgae cultivation is resource-efficient and has low environmental impact. Microalgae need only sunlight, water, and CO₂ to be cultivated, alongside nutrients that can easily be taken from wastewaters, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus. In this way, nutrients can be recovered from wastewaters in the cultivation chain, at the same time saving on fertilizers and helping to prevent nutrient-rich effluents from being released in the environment, causing eutrophication.²⁵ Thus again, as we have seen for insects, not only are microalgae Novel Foods containing healthy beneficial compounds, but they are also foods that can be produced in an environmentally friendly and resource-efficient way. In this sense, they are part of a new food production system aimed at securing healthy food in a sustainable way for everyone on the planet.

3.2 Novel Healthy Food Ingredients and Supplements from Marginal and Exotic Biomasses

A relevant number of Novel Foods present in the Union list are derived from marginal and/or exotic biomasses that are not typically used as food, at least in the European Union. A few examples will be given, trying to assess also in these cases the origin of the interest in these new foods and the true reasons behind their commercialization, which will again be, as will be shown, the content of beneficial compounds.

A typical example is represented by chia oil and chia seeds, two Novel Food ingredients derived from Salvia hispanica. Chia seeds are Novel Foods in the European Union, but they have been used as part of traditional diets for thousands of years in Central America. The plant originated from Mexico and Guatemala, and it has been a part of human food for about 5500 years. In pre-historic times in Columbian societies, it was the second main crop after beans.²⁶ Chia oil is used as an additive to fat and oil preparation, whereas the specified use of chia seeds as ingredients includes bread products, baked products, breakfast cereals, nut and seed mixes, fruit juice, and fruit/vegetable blend beverages, fruit spreads, yogurt, ready to eat meals based on cereal grains, pseudocereal grains and/or pulses, and chocolate preparations. The great interest in chia derivatives as food ingredients relies on the benefits, largely reported in the literature, linked to their content of fibre, vitamins, minerals, and powerful antioxidants (caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, kaempferol, quercetin). Thus, the commercialization of chia seeds is mostly driven by their strong health benefit potential, which allows us to expand the base of healthy foods in our diet using a vegetable plant that already has a long and significant tradition outside the EU.

As a further example, an even larger share of Novel Foods and Novel Food ingredients is represented by the Noni plant (Morinda citrifolia). Five different entries in the Union list are represented by this plant: Noni fruit juice, Noni fruit juice powder (used as food supplement), Noni fruit puree and concentrate (used for candy/confectionery, cereal bars, powdered nutritional drink mixes, carbonated beverages, ice cream, yoghurt, biscuits, cakes and pastries, breakfast cereals, jams and jellies, sweet spreads, fillings and icings, savoury sauces, pickles, gravies and condiments, and as food supplement), Noni leaves (used for infusions), and Noni fruit powder (used as food supplement). M. Citrifolia is a perennial, fruit-bearing plant that grows up to 6 m in height and is native to Southeast Asia. The root, stem, fruits, and leaves are traditionally used by several East Asian cultures for the treatment of numerous diseases such as arthritis, headaches, burns, and even disorders related to tuberculosis, diabetes, and hypertension.²⁷ Indeed, more than 200 compounds with confirmed biological activity have been identified in M. Citrifolia, such as anthraquinone, damnacanthal, coumarin, scopoletin, and flavonoids, like rutin and quercetin. These bioactive compounds are promising for therapeutic applications, although the medical and nutritional values of this plant are not yet fully proven. Thus, quite interestingly, a plant mostly used as a source for pharmacological compounds outside the EU, it has been introduced in Europe as a Novel Food, clearly trying to exploit its potential beneficial purposes. Moreover, what makes this plant even more interesting, and a possible contributor for bringing healthy and beneficial foods to the poorest parts of the world, is its ability to grow in very diverse, and sometimes hostile, conditions. M. citrifolia can grow and develop in open rocky or sandy coasts, plains and open meadows, ravines, in recent flows of lava, or even in humid forests with low luminosity. It can grow in relatively wet to moderately wet environments, from sea level up to 800 m altitude. It has a resistance to high rainfall levels up to 4000 mm, but it can also survive in arid environments, being able to withstand 6 months or more of extreme drought. It can grow in high solar luminosity or in environments with more than 80% shade. It also has a good regeneration capacity: after being subjected to fire burning, Noni can generate leaves from the root or the stem. Thus, again, the reasons for having this plant in the list of Novel Foods are clear: it is a very flexible plant able to grow under almost any condition (therefore with the potential to be grown in the least productive parts of the world), and potentially able to bring many beneficial compounds into the human diet.

One Novel Food derived from a botanical species which is not exotic in the European Union, but is not usually used as food, is an extract obtained from the leguminous plant lucerne, also called alfalfa (Medicago sativa). This plant is commonly used as feed in animal nutrition, due to its high protein content of elevated nutritional value. The lucerne leaf extract, also rich in highly nutritious proteins, has been approved with a proposed use as a food supplement for its range of potential benefits to the human diet. Indeed, many studies have demonstrated that lucerne concentrate can not only help fight malnutrition (because of the high protein content), but can also prevent ischemia, and various digestive tract disorders. It also increases the resistance of the immune system, improves the content of haemoglobin in the blood, and promotes a beneficial intestinal microbial population.²⁸ Again, it became a Novel Food because it can bring health and well-being to consumers.

The last example of Novel Food ingredients belonging to the category of exotic biomasses, but of animal origin, originates from the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba): Antarctic Krill oil and, as a distinct list entry, Antarctic Krill oil rich in phospholipids. The approval of these Novel Food ingredients has been given for use in dairy products, cheese products, non-alcoholic beverages, spreadable fat and dressings, cooking fats, breakfast cereals, bakery products, nutrition bars/cereal bars, food supplements for the general population, and pregnant and lactating women. Again, the reason for the presence of these Novel Foods in the market is strongly linked to their beneficial properties. Krill oil is characterized by a high concentration (39.29–80.69%) of phospholipids (PLs), associated with the essential lipids eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. It also contains considerable amounts of bioactive minor components such as astaxanthin, sterols, tocopherols, vitamin A, flavonoids, and minerals. Krill oil has been documented to have various health benefits, including anti-inflammatory effects, cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, women's health enhancement, neuroprotection, and anticancer properties.²⁹

All the above examples, which are only representative of the many diverse Novel Foods obtained from marginal and exotic biomasses present in the Union list, demonstrate how the driving force for a Novel Food creation from these biomasses are the benefits (or supposed benefits) that this Novel Food can bring to the human diet by improving health and wellbeing. The use of these marginal or exotic biomasses, often originating from difficult environments, has the purpose of making these benefits available in the European market, but also in the poorest countries, where other healthy foods that are more ‘standard’ in rich countries are not readily available due to adverse economic, social, or environmental causes.

3.3 Novel Healthy Food Ingredients and Supplements from Food Byproducts

If there is a category of Novel Food ingredients that puts in clear evidence the important role played by them in the transition towards a circular economy, and with it towards sustainable food production, it is the one including ingredients obtained by food by-products. The possibility of obtaining a food ingredient, and even a healthy food ingredient (rich in protein, fibre, or antioxidants) from residual biomass meant for waste, gives the twofold advantage of reducing the amount of food waste to be treated and of saving the traditional sources for these ingredients, eventually increasing their availability in the market, and possibly lowering their costs. Some typical examples are reported below.

Lycopene, the main carotenoid of tomato, is present in the Union list of Novel Foods with four different entries. Of these, two of them concern the obtainment of lycopene from tomatoes (lycopene from tomatoes and lycopene oleoresin from tomatoes). Tomato skins, which are the leftovers from pulp, puree, and paste production, are a rich source of lycopene. The fact that lycopene extracted from these sources is to be considered a Novel Food might appear strange considering that the compound is common in tomatoes, which are part of the diet of billions of people around the world. But pure lycopene is certainly a Novel Food ingredient since it is never purposely added to our food preparations as such, but only as part of the tomato. Pure lycopene has been proposed for use in fruit/vegetable juice-based drinks, drinks targeted for athletes, diet replacements for weight control, breakfast cereals, fats and dressings, soups other than tomato soups, and bread, all foods usually completely devoid of lycopene. Lycopene is also present in the Novel Foods list as extracted from Blakeslea trispora, a mould that produces large amounts of carotenoids, and even as synthetic lycopene. The fact that lycopene has been authorized as a Novel Food ingredient from four different sources, including synthesis, demonstrates that there is a great deal of interest in commercializing this compound as a food additive. Interest is due to the celebrated antioxidant properties of lycopene, which in the literature have been associated with positive effects in the control of serum lipid levels, of endothelial dysfunction, of inflammation, of blood pressure, as well as for its strong antioxidative potential.³⁰ Certainly, lycopene has big market potential, and is well known among the general public as a ‘good’ antioxidant molecule, which may well have triggered the requests for its recognition as a Novel Food ingredient. As stated above, health benefits are the driving force for companies for making applications for lycopene as a Novel Food, but again those benefits are not the criteria by which a Novel Food is approved or not, which regard only its safety.

A further example concerns plum kernel oil, a Novel Food which has been approved to be used for frying or seasoning, in line with other vegetable oils. The Novel Food status comes from the fact that usually plum kernels are discarded as food process waste. Plum kernel oil is usually used in cosmetic products, but lately, it has been marketed as a virgin oil with a delicate almond-like flavour. In this case, the driving force for its commercialization and its application as a Novel Food came from being a supposed food specialty, more than from its health benefits, and mostly for the possibility to valorise and give added value to a discard of the plum industry. Nevertheless, it has also been branded as a source of Vitamin E and oleic acid (70% of the lipid fraction).

If the previous Novel Foods extracted from by-products are a source of lipids and antioxidants, wheat bran extracts are a Novel Food to be used as a source of fibre. Wheat bran, a by-product of the industrial roller milling of wheat, is added to food products because of its favourable nutritional profile and physiological effects.³¹ The bran fraction approved as a Novel Food is rich in arabinoxylan oligosaccharides, and its proposed use is for addition to beer and beer substitutes, ready-to-eat cereals, dairy products, fruit and vegetable juices, soft drinks, and meat preparations. Here once again health benefits are the driving force leading to the approval of this Novel Food, together with the intention to valorise a by-product of the wheat industry which still has much potential as a food additive.

The last example of Novel Food obtained by a food by-product concerns a product of animal origin. The Union list reports among Novel Foods a protein extract from pig kidneys meant as a food supplement. Pig kidneys are by-products of the slaughter process, and as such are usually discarded. Still, the protein extract contains a relevant amount of the enzyme diaminooxidase. Diamine oxidase supplements are products that restore the diamine oxidase enzyme in the human body. This enzyme degrades histamine in histamine-rich foods and reduces symptoms of histamine intolerance. These supplements might offer relief from headaches, digestive issues, and skin reactions provoked by an excessive consumption of histamine-rich food (like cheese). Thus, once more the driving force for bringing to the market as Novel Food this product is the health benefit that can be obtained from it, as well as the obvious economic advantage of valorising a product that is usually simply discarded as waste.

All the above examples demonstrate how Novel Foods can contribute towards the creation of a truly circular economy both by bringing sustainability to the food production system through the valorisation of food by-products and food discards, as well as the added value of introducing new health benefits to the human diet.

3.4 Novel Ingredients for Healthier Baby Foods Also Extended to Foods for Adults

A significant number of Novel Foods are specifically dedicated to the well-being of children and toddlers and are commercialized as ingredients in infant formula, follow-up formula, and baby foods, but interestingly also as food ingredients for adults. This category of Novel Food makes extremely clear how health benefits are the true driving force for a Novel Food application. The most relevant ingredients belonging to this class are mono- and oligosaccharides present in human breast milk and recognized to be important for child development, such as N-acetyl-d-neuraminic acid, 2′-fucosyllactose, galactooligosaccharides, and Lacto-N-neotetraose. The status of Novel Foods for those compounds is compelled by the fact that, although present in human breast milk, they had never been used as supplements in infant formula before 1997, and thus in a sense they are ‘new’ as food ingredients (although obviously, every breastfed baby experienced them in his/her diet), and they are obtained by chemical or enzymatical synthesis. What is particularly interesting is that the above Novel Foods, although developed mostly for infant formula and baby food supplementation, and inspired by the composition of human breast milk, have also been proposed as Novel Food ingredients in foods meant for adults (milk and dairy products, cereal bars, fruit, and vegetable-based drinks, coffee, tea, and herbal infusions, food supplements for adults, etc.), clearly aiming at extending the supposed benefits of these compounds to an adult population.

N-acetyl-d-neuraminic acid is a major component of sialic acid in the human body, and sialyloligosaccharides represent a significant fraction of human breast milk oligosaccharides. They have been described as essential nutrients in the development of the infant brain, since their highest concentration in milk during early lactation concurs with a rapid increase of brain gangliosides. Furthermore, the content of gangliosides and protein-bound sialic acid is higher in the brains of breast-fed infants in comparison to formula-fed infants.³² In any case, in stark contrast with human breast milk composition, infant formulas are usually very poor in N-acetyl-d-neuraminic acid and, consequently, of sialic acid. Thus, the supplementation of this compound, obtained by chemical synthesis, has been suggested to improve brain development in infants. 2′-fucosyllactose is a trisaccharide, also present in human breast milk but generally not in infant formula, that modulates the gut microbiota in formula-fed infants when added as a supplement.³³ 2′-fucosyllactose from chemical synthesis can therefore be added to infant formula to improve the health of the gut microbiota. Analogously, galactooligosaccharides have been associated with many health-promoting effects in newborn children, such as growth promotion of beneficial bacteria, inhibition of pathogen adhesion, and improvement of gut barrier function. For these reasons, as a Novel Food ingredient, they are now used as prebiotics for the gut microbiota in infant formulations. Galacto-oligosaccharides are produced through an enzymatic reaction controlled by β-galactosidases of bacterial or fungal origin.³⁴ Lacto-N-tetraose is also a prebiotic present in human breast milk, and it has been demonstrated to selectively support the growth of desirable bifidobacteria and therefore to contribute significantly to the development of a natural microbiome in newborns.³⁵ As a Novel Food ingredient, it is produced by fermentation using a genetically modified strain of Escherichia coli and added as an additive to infant formula, baby foods, cereal bars, milk and dairy products, herbal and tea infusions, etc.

Bovine lactoferrin, a common milk protein, is also a Novel Food ingredient authorized as an additive for infant formula and foods for young children, but also for a wide range of other foods meant for adult consumption, such as processed cereal food, milk, and dairy products, non-alcoholic drinks, cakes and pastries, candies, and chewing gums. As a dietary supplement, bovine lactoferrin has been repeatedly demonstrated in the literature to enhance and support the immune system response through its antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiviral properties.³⁶ As for some of the previously described Novel Foods, it might appear strange that a protein that is commonly present in milk is to be considered a Novel Food: after all, drinking milk always means drinking a certain amount of lactoferrin. Pure bovine lactoferrin is indeed produced on an industrial scale from cheese whey or skimmed milk. What makes bovine lactoferrin a Novel Food is that, when used as an additive, it is added in concentrations that are not commonly found in milk and dairy products: what is new in this case is the amount of lactoferrin entering our diet all at once from a single source.

Arachidonic acid-rich oil from the fungus Mortierella alpina is a Novel Food ingredient exclusively developed for infant formula and as a food supplement for children, and today commonly used in baby food formulations. Arachidonic acid has multiple physiological functions and is an important nutrient for infants and the elderly. However, most of the arachidonic acid in humans is usually taken from dietary animal sources such as meat and eggs, which are not usually part of the infant diet. Also, extraction of arachidonic acid from the above sources to be used as an additive is not practical for large-scale production. Instead, fungi such as M. alpina, which in some strains is a strong arachidonic acid producer, can be used to supplement infant formula efficiently.³⁷ Since M. alpina arachidonic-rich strain has never been consumed in the past, it needed approval as Novel Food. In this case, the intended application was restricted to infant formula and baby foods, since the adult population is supposed to have sufficient intake of arachidonic acid from animal sources, but certainly, this has the potentiality to be extended to the segment of the world population unable to access sufficient amounts of foods of animal origin.

Through the few examples presented above, it appears clear that this group of Novel Foods is mostly aimed at tackling first and foremost baby diet insufficiencies by producing Novel Food ingredients that mimic compounds naturally present in human breast milk, or compounds that are well known to be beneficial for children at many different levels (brain development, health microbiota, immune system, etc.). As mentioned previously, however, the extension of these Novel Foods to adults could extend those benefits to a much larger part of the population, producing significant positive effects. The maximum benefits of these Novel Food ingredients, once equal access is granted globally, will be felt most strongly among the populations where children and their mothers, but also the rest of the adult population, do not have access to complete and nutritious diets. As seen previously, the real purpose and promise of these Novel Foods is once again the possibility to access diets that are healthier and more nutritious, thus increasing food security for everybody and reducing food access inequality.

3.5 Novel UV-Treated Foods for Tackling Vitamin D Deficiency

As the last example of how Novel Foods are primarily intended to improve health and wellbeing, I refer to a special category of Novel Foods that includes commonly consumed foods that have been treated by UV irradiation. In this case, although the foods in this category are very common ones, approval as Novel Foods was needed because the UV treatment was a technology never before applied to them. Thus, those foods after treatment are indeed Novel Foods, in the sense of never having been consumed before in the European Union. There are four UV-treated Novel Foods in the Union list: UV-treated mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), UV-treated baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), UV-treated bread, and UV-treated milk. In all cases, the treatment was done to increase the content of vitamin D. When mushrooms, yeast, or bread are treated with ultraviolet light, a conversion of ergosterol to ergocalciferol (Vitamin D₂) is induced. The treatment of the pasteurized milk with UV radiation results in an increase in the conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to vitamin D₃ (cholecalciferol). The relevance of stimulating vitamin D production in food is paramount in a healthy diet. The percentage of the world’s population with vitamin D deficiency is continuously increasing, and this problem is mostly felt in the poorest parts of the world. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a loss of bone density, which can contribute to osteoporosis and bone fractures. Very few foods contain vitamin D, and therefore dietary guidelines recommend supplementation of vitamin D.³⁸ In this sense, these UV-treated Novel Foods might make a difference: they are traditional common foods (bread, milk), usually poor in vitamin D content, but widely consumed. The UV-induced increase in their vitamin D content could be an easily applied solution that is accessible to all as part of efforts to reduce malnutrition in many parts of the world.

4 Conclusions

The considerations and illustrations expounded upon in this chapter show how the main driving force for a company to develop, validate, test, and ask for approval for a Novel Food is the possibility to brand this new food as a healthy ingredient, capable of bringing in our diets new compounds with nutritional advantages that were not present before its introduction. This is even clearer if we observe how many times the terms ‘Food Supplement’ or ‘Food for Special Medical Purposes’ appear in the list of the intended use of the Novel Foods. ‘Food Supplements’ are intended to correct nutritional deficiencies, maintain an adequate intake of certain nutrients, or to support specific physiological functions, whereas ‘Food for Special Medical Purposes’ are foods designed for patients who, due to a particular disease, disorder, or medical condition, have nutritional needs that cannot be met by consuming standard foodstuffs; these patients they have a limited, impaired or disturbed capacity to take, digest, absorb, metabolize or excrete ordinary foods, or certain nutrients or metabolites. Both categories aim at improving the health of consumers with dietary challenges caused by a special condition or illness. Those terms are over-represented in the European Union list of Novel Foods: within approximately 200 entries, the use of Novel Foods as ‘Food Supplement’ appears more than 100 times and as ‘Foods for special medical purposes’ about 30 times. This last example demonstrates once more how improving health and wellbeing is a key target for Novel Foods.

At the same time, ongoing efforts to find new benefits lead to the use of new technologies for food production, including the chemical synthesis of compounds that never existed before, or the exploitation of biomasses not previously used as food sources, including biomasses coming from former food waste. As a result, all the above-combined efforts to find new healthy ingredients come together to transform the food production system into a healthier and more sustainable one, reducing food waste, preserving traditional sources of food, and securing new compounds that can increase the health level of the entire human population. Every Novel Food is a small but essential step towards the Sustainable Development Goals outlined at the beginning of this chapter.

The last consideration to be made, even if it is beyond the scope of this chapter, concerns the perception of the public towards Novel Foods: are they perceived in the way they should be? Is the average consumer aware that Novel Foods are not an attempt by large companies to subvert local traditions, and even less an attempt to eliminate our beloved traditional foods from our diet, but simply the addition of new foods bringing new possibilities for how we can maintain our health and wellbeing? Novel Foods are not the substitute for what we have always had in our diets, but rather an addition, intended to improve and increase our choices for a better world for us and everyone. Consumers should be aware of these realities if we are to ease our transition towards a new food production system.³⁹