Outcome of the public consultation on the draft Scientific Opinion of the Scientific Panels on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) on the Guidance on the risk assessment of food and feed from genetically modified animals and on animal health and welfare aspects

Report (0.1 Mb)

Summary

On 7 July 2011 and 16 June 2011, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO Panel) and the Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW Panel) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), respectively, endorsed a draft guidance on risk assessment of food and feed from genetically modified animals and on animal health and welfare aspects with the aim of launching it for public consultation.

The draft guidance was released for public consultation from 10 August until 30 September 2011. EFSA received 341 comments on the draft guidance from 32 interested parties (institutes, non-governmental organisations, universities, associations, industry organisations, national assessment bodies and individuals). All the public comments received, that were within the remit of the EFSA GMO and AHAW Panel, were scrutinised for their relevance. The EFSA GMO and AHAW Panel, through its relevant working groups, addressed the comments, a large number of which were general with reference to the structure and principles of the approach undertaken but also more technical comments related to specific issues. The draft guidance on risk assessment of food and feed from genetically modified animals and on animal health and welfare aspects was revised taking these relevant comments into consideration.

The final guidance of the GMO and AHAW Panel (EFSA , 2012) provides updated guidance both for applicants and for risk assessors. EFSA has committed to publish a technical report on the outcome of the consultation on the guidance. This technical report summarises the most common comments received through the consultation and outlines how these were taken into account in the final guidance.