Novel Food Registration in Thailand – a Webinar

On July 6th, at 15:00 Bangkok time, our CEO, Dr. Diego Sala had a speech in a Webinar on Novel Food Registration in Thailand, hosted by the platform Chemlinked, located in Guanzhou, China.

More than 80 attendants followed the event and after that asked lot of questions, showing that Novel Food Regulation in Thailand is an interesting but not fully clear topic.

The webinar was focused on the different process of Novel Food Registration in Thailand, that depends on the food classification and on the history of the product in the Market.

Novel Food Registration in Thailand is mandatory when a product has an ingredient not included in Thai FDA databases, or when it has an innovative production process.

Its process is typical of a Safety Assessment; it becomes necessary when product is not in General Food category, that is approved without consideration (for example ready-to-eat products); Novel Food Registration process is related to

• LABELED FOOD
• STANDARDIZED FOOD
• SPECIALLY CONTROLLED FOODS

EXCLUSIVELY WHEN one of the following conditions is satisfied:

1. One or more of its ingredients are not in Thai FDA databases
2. The product has an innovative production method
3. One or more of its ingredients have different functions than the ones listed in FDA database
4. It contains genetically modified Organism (GMO)

This is a basic rule to understand the requirements of new food ingredients in Thailand.

Novel Food Registration in Thailand is ruled by Notification 376 issued in 2016, which defines a Novel food as a substance (both a finished product or a single ingredient) or an innovative process to produce food or, better, in detail:

1. Any substance used as food or any food ingredients which has been significantly used for human consumption less than fifteen years based on scientific or reliable evidence or
2. Any substance used as food or any food ingredient with a production process not currently used, where that process gives rise to significant changes in the composition of structure of such food which affect their nutritional value, metabolism or generates undesirable substances or
3. Any food product which contains either (1) or (2) as an ingredient.

Summarizing, any food or ingredient or process which has a commercial history of less than 15 years is a potential novel food.

Food additives and food obtained through certain techniques of Genetic Modification are not included in this notification and have different assessment process.

If you are looking for information about Novel Food Registration in Thaland you can contact us HERE or watch this video to learn all about process, timing and documentation for Novel Food Registration in Thai FDA.