If the humble potato had not been discovered in Peru and taken home by the Spanish conquistadors five centuries ago, it could have a tough time entering the European market today.
That's because potatoes can be toxic, and though they have been an integral part of the South American diet for hundreds of years, they would not pass muster now if measured against the European Union's strict standards for new foods, says scientist Michael Hermann.
Wheat, a staple that can trigger allergies to gluten, would probably also be vetoed, said Hermann of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute in Colombia, who has been lobbying for changes to the EU law.
Yet Peruvian producers and exporters say there are plenty of other native foods as exotic abroad as potatoes once were, that could also find big markets among European shoppers -- if they could just get through the door.
Many have health properties that are recognized locally. Yacon, for example, is a sweet root said to be beneficial to diabetics; the fruit camu camu has at least 30 times the vitamin C content of oranges, and oil from the sacha inchi vine is rich in Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids that can protect the heart and lower cholesterol.
Although yacon and camu camu are already sold in Japan and the United States, full EU entry is on hold, pending approval under the Novel Food Regulation.
That law requires extensive scientific data as proof that foods not widely known in an EU country before May 1997 can be deemed safe.
Scares like mad cow disease have made European food safety a key consumer consideration.
"We cannot lower our guard," European Commission spokesman Philip Tod said.
The approval process is also time-consuming. Exporters say it can take years and cost around $100,000 -- prohibitive for small companies trying to market niche products that often lack scientific studies to back them up.
"We definitely see it (the novel food law) as a hurdle, a non-tariff trade barrier," said Eduardo Ferrer, managing director of Gyrisa, an exporter which is applying for approval of sacha inchi oil under the name Inca Inchi.
Poor farmers
Although Peru is a major exporter of such foods as asparagus and mango, farming remains one of the most depressed sectors of the economy in the Andean country, where more than half the population lives on $1.25 a day or less.
"If (EU) entry were simpler, we would be able to give some native people and some regions interesting (development) prospects," said Bernardo Munoz, agricultural manager at Prompex, Peru's state export agency.
The value to Peru of an EU market in such novel foods is hard to estimate, but Michel Guillerm, a senior official at Peru's exporters' association, ADEX, said if camu camu were developed, "I think we'd be talking about $10 million a year."
Hermann said the novel food law placed an "unreasonably high burden of proof" on producers.
"I'm not arguing that we should do away completely with food safety assessment, but we should put it in the right perspective," he said.
"We should compare these plants -- are they related to plants we know in Europe? We should look at the indigenous knowledge, at consumption patterns in these countries -- is there a history of a particular food source causing allergenic problems?" Hermann added.
Safety first
Exporters in the past have been guilty of hyping the health benefits of some native foods, like maca, a root billed as the "Andean Viagra" capable of reviving a flagging sex drive.
Maca was sold in Europe before 1997, Guillerm said, but doubts about its safety have surfaced in Denmark, where it is banned pending further study.
Maca and yacon are both examples of once-neglected crops that have been revived recently in Peru, giving farmers a new source of income.
But Tod stressed that the EU motto is safety first, and rules cannot be ignored for the benefit of small farmers.
"If you don't have the (scientific) data, we can't waive our safety rules," he said.
"The Commission can't cut corners with public health, however laudable the intention."
Guillerm held talks this month in Brussels on whether Peru could ask member states to consider yacon "substantially equivalent" to another plant -- something that would remove it from the scope of the novel foods law.
"The Europeans are open, they are willing to help a third world country. But the EU bureaucracy functions very slowly," he said.
Tod said the Commission was considering streamlining the approval process and that the law itself was under review. But changes to EU legislation can take two to three years.
Hermann noted the irony that Peru's top agricultural exports are all foods that originated outside South America and the national dish of marinated raw fish, ceviche, relies on the non-native lime.
"(Food) exchange has been so beneficial, not only for Europe but also for Latin America," he said. "This legislation is creating a huge barrier."
By: N. Peter Kramer
