FSA News Item, 19 January 2006
The Agency has decided that Hawaiian Noni LLC's noni juice meets the criteria for being sold in the EU.
Noni juice comes from the fruit commonly known as 'noni'. It is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia and to have been distributed subsequently by ancient voyagers or other means into the Pacific islands, including Tahiti and Hawaii .
An application for noni juice to be marketed was originally approved in 2003. This approval applied only to the applicant company, but the regulations allow novel foods or ingredients that are substantially equivalent to an existing product to be placed on the market once the applicant has informed the European Commission.
In all cases to date, the Commission has required that the applicant first obtain an opinion on substantial equivalence from a member state.
Hawaiian Noni LLC requested such an opinion from the UK . The basis of this request was that Agrinom, the supplier of Hawaiian Noni Juice LLC, is the sole supplier of BPI Austria whose product was authorised in 2004.
Following public consultation, the Agency decided that Hawaiian Noni LLC's noni juice meets the criteria for equivalence.