In May 2019 BBC Travel told how teff, the tiny grain behind injera for more than two thousand years in Ethiopia and Eritrea, became the subject of a Dutch patent fight after seeds were sent to the Netherlands for research in the early 2000s.
Agronomist Jans Roosjen’s company later held European patent claims on teff flour processing. Ethiopians watched in anger as a staple food was marketed abroad as a new superfood while the ownership paper sat in Europe. When a Dutch court voided key patent claims and appeal deadlines expired in early 2019, many treated it as a quiet victory.
The story is not only about one businessman. It is about biodiversity, research partnerships, and who gets to profit when African crops become Western health brands.
Kept as food and culture reference, the BBC teff file still matters whenever diaspora kitchens and global snack companies argue over a grain Ethiopians never stopped calling their own.
Sources: BBC Travel