Novel foods and novel processing techniques as threats and challenges to a hypersensitive world

Novel foods and novel processing techniques are a real challenge for science, industry and administrative bodies but are not a threat to consumers, so although the question why consumers are very wary of ‘novel food’ is undoubtedly interesting, this paper does not deal with consumer attitudes but with definitions of ‘foods’, ‘functional foods’ and ‘novel foods’ and with particular issues regarding functional foods and novel foods. New challenges in food safety arise through the introduction of novel processing techniques into the food chain. Advantages and disadvantages of novel processing techniques such as supercritical carbon dioxide, high-pressure treatment, and high-intensity electric-field pulses are described. Special attention is paid to the influence of genetic-modification technology and other novel processing techniques on food allergy potency.