Novel food and the eurocrats

The European Novel Food Directive of 1997 is an interesting document.

Here is the first paragraph.

The Commission considers foods and food ingredients that have not been used for human consumption to a significant degree in the EU before 15 May 1997 novel foods and novel food ingredients.
They must be:

• Safe for consumers;
• Properly labelled to not mislead consumers.

Assume you have an easily upset stomach that does not like coffee or tea. Further assume you look all around the internet and find muna tea.

It hails from South America, mainly Peru, is a popular staple, only a few thousand years older than the EU, and people rave about it being wonderful for your stomach in addition to helping with altitude sickness.

After some more searching, you find a supplier in Europe and get an introduction into the details of the Novel Food Directive:

"They must undergo food safety and nutrition testing by a national authority before they can be sold anywhere in the EU. Therefore, our plants are not sold for the purpose of consumption."

You order, the half pound bag arrives a week later, and you proceed to make tea from your "botanical specimen" in violation of said EU directive.

It is as good as the bloggers and forum members all over the net claim. We cannot verify the altitude sickness claim because our mountains don't count as such compared to even the lowest peaks of the Andes.

Your stomach calmed and the resultant anxiety gone, you start wondering if it might help overcome mild bureaucratic upset.