While I hesitantly agree with Olenazh about there not being specific laws against cannibalism there are absolutely state by state laws that impact how a person would come about receiving a corpse and whether or not eating it would be desecration of a body, regardless of whether there is consent or not.
While I see plenty of items being deemed "novel foods" by the EU, I have yet to see anything that relates to a human or human byproduct. Anyone else is welcome to search and prove me wrong.
Novel Food Catalogue (europa.eu)
Cheers!
The Novel Foods catalogue isn't exhaustive, and indeed isn't intended to be - it would be an insane undertaking to catalogue everything that doesn't have an established history of safe consumption in the EU prior to 1997.
It's more of a quick reference for commonly encountered examples, things that might be approved in food supplements but not in foods etc, as it would be an insane undertaking to try to catalogue every plant, animal, extract, chemical substance (including ones not yet invented) that doesn't have an established history of safe consumption in the EU prior to the 1997 cutoff deadline in the Novel Foods regs.
All names are in Latin - just curious, maybe human albumin serum is hidden somewhere there? Or, some other yummy human byproducts? My bright imagination gives me quite nasty pictures of those...
The use of binomial names (Latin is a dead language
) is actually really helpful. There are various plants that share common names, and sometimes they may be several separate species in one genus, so knowing what actual species an entry concerns is genuinely useful. Alas that there isn't always taxonomical agreement on that either, but it's better than nothing.
Definitely didn't see an entry for Homo sapiens though, so clearly the EFSA staff that put it together hadn't envisaged regular queries about whether human flesh is "novel".
There is a formal process defined in the Novel Foods regulation for getting clarification from regulators as to whether a food is or is not considered novel. I'd almost pay to be a fly on the wall when the request dossier arrives with this particular species identification on it.
To the OP, I imagine this will be a uniquely challenging novel food application process for you. At least with (other) animal derivatives there are established limits on contaminants, veterinary drugs etc. Going to be a very interesting process trying to demonstrate that you're sourcing from "food grade" people.
I think I'm equal parts fascinated, and grateful that I'm a vegetarian 