Ministry of Food and Drug Safety>Information>International Risk Information

[UK] Views wanted on tongkat ali root extract by 23 September 2016 (2016-09-02)

Registration Date 2016-09-05
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A company has applied to the FSA for tongkat ali root extract to be approved for use in the European Union (EU) as a food ingredient under Regulation (EC) 258/97. Views are wanted on the company’s application dossier that the FSA will present to the independent expert committee (Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes) to inform its pre-market assessment of the novel food.

The applicant wants to market tongkat ali root extract with the intention that it be added to various foods including cereal and nutrition bars, confectionery, beverages and energy and sports drinks, as well as food supplements.

Read the application

PDF file Tongka ali root extract dossier(655.04 KB)
Read the application (August 2016)

About tongkat ali root extract

Tongkat ali is an extract from the root of the plant Eurycoma longifolia that is widely consumed as a beverage in various South East Asian countries.

About novel foods

A novel food is a food or food ingredient that does not have a significant history of consumption within the European Union before 15 May 1997.

Before any new food product can be introduced on the European market it must be rigorously assessed for safety. In the UK, the assessment of novel foods is carried out by the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP), an independent committee of scientists appointed by the FSA.

Deadline for comments

Comments on this application are requested from the public to assist in informing the committee. Any comments on this application should be emailed to the ACNFP secretariat at acnfp@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk by Friday 23 September 2016 and will be passed to the committee to assist in informing its assessment of this novel food ingredient.