As a child of the 80s my after school TV viewing was peppered with G.I. Joe, Voltron and Three’s Company reruns. And commercials for Chia Pets and other chia items. Even with the advertisement blasts I didn’t get the allure. A couple of weeks ago, friend of barfblog and Nebraska-based environmental health officer extraordinaire Troy Huffman emailed Doug and I about the newest health food craze (as seen on Dr. Oz) – eating Chia seeds.

According to wikipedia, chia (Salvia hispanica) is related to mint and is eaten in parts of central america as a food source (either ground or whole).

Today, U.K.’s FSA published a request for comment on an application by The Chia Company, an Australian firm that would like approval to market the seeds in baked goods, breakfast cereals and other mixed seed/nut products.

Chia (also known as Salvia hispanica) is a summer annual herbaceous plant belonging to the mint family. Chia is grown commercially in several Latin American countries and Australia, but the chia seed has not been consumed to a significant degree in the European Union and is therefore considered to be a novel food.

A novel food is a food or food ingredient that does not have a significant history of consumption within the European Union before 15 May 1997.

Before any new food product can be introduced on the European market, it must be assessed rigorously for safety. In the UK, the assessment of novel foods is carried out by the ACNFP, an independent committee of scientists appointed by the FSA.

The ACNFP has considered this application and has formulated a positive draft opinion. Any comments on this draft opinion should be emailed to acnfp@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk by Friday 9 March 2012. The comments will be considered by the committee when it concludes its assessment of this novel food ingredient.

Troy’s question to Doug and I was about micro risks – do chia sprouts (and maybe seeds) carry similar contamination risks to clover, alfalfa and mung bean sprouts? After a quick google scholar tour I couldn’t find much on pathogen evaluation (surveillance, survivability, growth)  of chia at all. Or whether the sprout (where the environment might promote pathogen growth) or the seed (a low moisture food like pepper and seasonings) could be an issue.