These are foods that have a continuous history of consumption in a ‘third country’ for at least 25 years by a significant number of people. A ‘third country’ in this case means any country currently outside the UK or the EU.
For foods which have this history of consumption, you may submit an application for a simplified authorisation process known as a 'traditional food notification'. Traditional food notifications have reduced data requirements because they have been widely used in other parts of the world. There is a four-month period within which the review of the application is conducted. If there are no reasoned safety objections raised by FSS or the FSA, the product may be authorised and placed on the authorised list.
If reasonable safety objections are raised, the product cannot be authorised. In this case, the business may then submit a traditional food application to address the objections. Traditional food applications are similar to the full novel food application route and require the full set of information detailed in the legislation.
The European Food Safety Authority have published guidance for traditional foods from third countries which is relevant to the GB process.
A full set of information is required to apply for authorisation of all novel foods that do not fall into the 'traditional food notification' category.