EFSA publishes review of data collection activities

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a report outlining its current activities and future priorities in the area of data collection. The report underlines that accurate, comprehensive and comparable data on the occurrence The fact or frequency of something (e.g. a disease or deficiency in a population) happening. of different substances or microorganisms in food, as well as on food consumption habits, are essential for EFSA to be able to deliver high-quality risk assessments and advice on nutritional and health concerns. This in turn helps to provide the best possible protection to European consumers.

EFSA bases its scientific advice on the most comprehensive and up-to-date data which are available and, working closely with EU Member States and other partners, the Authority has made considerable progress in recent years. The report highlights in particular EFSA’s annual Community Zoonoses Report[1] and the Annual Report on Pesticide Substance used to kill or control pests, including disease-carrying organisms and undesirable insects, animals and plants. Residues in Food, as well as ad-hoc reports on the occurrence of Salmonella, Campylobacter and chemical contaminants including acrylamide and dioxins.

EFSA is currently in the process of extending its European food consumption database. However, EU Member States use different methods to collect food consumption data, which makes it difficult to carry out EU-wide analyses or country-to-country comparisons. In close cooperation with the EU Member States, EFSA is therefore supporting harmonised food consumption data collection. This should allow more efficient and accurate exposure Concentration or amount of a particular substance that is taken in by an individual, population or ecosystem in a specific frequency over a certain amount of time. assessments to be carried out.

In line with Article 33 of EFSA’s founding regulation, this report on EFSA’s activities in the area of data collection has been sent to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

• EFSA Report on Data Collection: Future Directions