Israel
Country introduction:
The National Food Service (NFS) at the Ministry of Health is the regulatory agency responsible for the development of food standards and regulations dealing with food placed on the Israeli market, including novel foods. This responsibility includes establishing regulations, standards and policies governing the safety, nutritional quality, labelling policies of foods and handles all inspection and enforcement duties. The Ministry of Agriculture has responsibility for the regulation of seeds, veterinary biologics, fertilizers and livestock feeds. The ministry of Agriculture is also responsible for the regulations and guidelines dealing with cultivating plants with novel traits and dealing with livestock feeds and for conducting the respective safety assessments, whereas the Ministry Health is responsible for the regulations and guidelines pertaining to novel foods and for conducting safety assessments of novel foods including foods derived from r-DNA plants (post-harvest). The novel food committee assesses the safety of the novel food on a case-by-case basis. The assessment process must be completed within a timeframe of 6-12 months depending on the complexity of the application. The safety criteria for the assessment of novel foods outlined in the current procedure document were derived from internationally established scientific principles and guidelines developed through the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
Regulatory framework:
My country has a regulatory framework that requires the competent authority to conduct safety assessment of GM food.
Structure for GM food safety assessment:
My country has competent authority, agency, organization, ministry, department, committee, commission or a system/mechanism that is tasked to conduct or review GM food safety assessment.
Supplemental information (regulatory framework):
The recent Amendment of the "Public Health Protection Law (Food), 5776-2015" law are attached.
DISCLAIMER:THIS TRANSLATION IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSE ONLY AND IS A NON-BINDNG VERSION OF THE UP-TO-DATE ORIGINAL HEBREW VERSION OF THE LAW AS IT IS LISTED ON THE KNESSET WEBSITE
DISCLAIMER:THIS TRANSLATION IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSE ONLY AND IS A NON-BINDNG VERSION OF THE UP-TO-DATE ORIGINAL HEBREW VERSION OF THE LAW AS IT IS LISTED ON THE KNESSET WEBSITE
Relevant contact details:
The National Food Service within the Ministry of Health is the regulatory body responsible for the development of food standards, monitoring, enforcement and develope regulations dealing with food placed on the Israeli market, including novel food.
Imported and locally produced GM food are regarded as novel food and require a pre-market approval from the head of the National Food Service after being approved by the Novel food committee. It should be noted, that according to the "Public Health Protection Law (Food), 5776-2015" and "Procedure to register new food (#004-08)", novel food require pre-market approval only if they were not signficanyl marketed in Israel prior to Feb 2006. The pre-market approval application form can be found here
Imported and locally produced GM food are regarded as novel food and require a pre-market approval from the head of the National Food Service after being approved by the Novel food committee. It should be noted, that according to the "Public Health Protection Law (Food), 5776-2015" and "Procedure to register new food (#004-08)", novel food require pre-market approval only if they were not signficanyl marketed in Israel prior to Feb 2006. The pre-market approval application form can be found here
GM food safety assessment guidelines:
My country follows the relevant Codex Guidelines or national/regional guidelines that are in line with the Codex Guidelines in conducting safety assessment of GM food.
Conduct of GM food safety assessment:
My country has never conducted food safety assessment of GM food but is planning to conduct such assessment in the near future.
Supplemental information (assessment):
This section is not relevant for GM food safety assessment in Israel
Regulation stacked events:
Stacked events require full assessment as a new GM event.
Supplemental information (stacked events):
This section, Regulation on stacked events, is currently not relevant in Israel
GM food/feed production:
My country produces GM food or feed only for research purposes.
GM food/feed imports:
My country may import GM food or feed and there is no authorization process.
Supplemental information (production and trade):
Imported and locally produced GM food are regarded as novel food and require a pre-market approval from the head of the National Food Service after being approved by the Novel food committee. It should be noted, that according to the "Public Health Protection Law (Food), 5776-2015" and "Procedure to register new food (#004-08)", novel food require pre-market approval only if they were not signficanyl marketed in Israel prior to Feb 2006. The pre-market approval application form can be found here
LLP/AP incidents:
I do not know if my country has faced any LLP/AP issues in the last 10 years.
Supplemental information (LLP/AP incidents):
Labelling requirement:
My country is in the process of developing regulations/policies on GM food labeling.
Supplemental information (labelling requirement):
Relevant links:
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