Explanatory note on the selection of forage material suitable for the risk assessment of GM feed of plant origin

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) identified the need to provide further clarification on the Guidance for the risk assessment of food and feed from genetically modified plants (EFSA GMO Panel, 2011), specifically in the context of the risk assessment of GM feed of plant origin. Regulation (EU) No 503/2013 requires amongst others, data from raw agricultural commodities entering the feed production and processing chain. Different parts of a plant, i.e. whole grain, bean or seed and forage, may enter the feed chain as unprocessed raw material. Whereas the grain, bean and seed are welldefined for each plant, the definition of forage varies on a crop-by-crop basis as the parts likely to enter the feed chain differ among crops. This explanatory note provides a crop-specific definition of forage for maize, soybean, sugarbeet, rapeseed and cotton, mitigating the lack of forage definition in the regulatory context and supporting the appropriate selection of forage material, as required by Regulation (EU) No 503/2013.