Aztec superfood gets set for European launch as Novel Food approval looms

Salba, a grey-coloured seed believed to be one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet, could finally be approved for use as a food ingredient in Europe this year following almost five years of wrangling with regulators.

Irish egg producer Robert Craig & Sons lodged an application to use the seeds as a novel food ingredient in soft grain bread in June 2003 under the EU Novel Food Regulation (the application uses the word chia, the Salvia hispanica L plant belonging to the mint family from which salba is derived).

Assuming there are no last-minute hold ups, approval should be granted early this year, it said. "We were asked to provide further information about toxicology and allergenicity and that has contributed to the delay. But there's also politics.

"Like a lot of companies going through the Novel Food Regulation, we were in the position where we got the all clear from the first expert committee [the UK Advisory Committee for Novel Foods and Processes] but other Member States raised objections, which delayed things for months on end."

A favourite of the Aztecs, neutral-tasting salba seeds can be eaten straight, mixed with other seed crops, made into drinks ('chia fresca'), ground into flour and pressed for oil.

The seeds, which are grown in Peru and Argentina, contain large quantities of the omega-3 fatty acid alpha linolenic acid (60% of the oil content). Weight for weight, they are also unusually high in calcium, B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, potassium and fibre.

Given that they absorb 14 times their own weight in water, the low-GI seeds are also regarded as a potentially exciting bulking agent and weight management ingredient. Softer than flax, they are also less prone to spoilage.

Human studies conducted at St Michael's Hospital at the University of Toronto, Canada, suggested they could help lower blood pressure, thin the blood, improve endothelial function and tackle inflammatory risk factors associated with heart disease.

Mitch Propster, chief executive of Core Naturals, the exclusive distributor for salba products in the US, said they were performing well in America, where they have recently been incorporated into a variety of foods such as bread, tortilla chips, salsa and muffins.

Ian Aitchison, owner of Swiss-based Living Proof, which is licensed by Core Naturals to sell whole salba seeds and oil capsules to the medical and professional healthcare market and to private consumers in Europe, predicted that salba would take the health foods market by storm as awareness grew. Achieving novel food status was key to its wider acceptance, he said.

Another potentially exciting health food - fruit pulp from the baobab tree - is also likely to get the thumbs up from regulators this year, according to trade body Phyto Trade Africa, which lodged a Novel Food application for the ingredient in August 2006.

It said: "We hope to have this matter resolved within three to six months."