Outcome of the public consultation on a draft protocol for the Scientific Opinion on dietary sugars

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) carried out a public consultation to receive input from the scientific community and all interested parties on a draft protocol for the Scientific Opinion on free sugars from all dietary sources, prepared by the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA Panel), supported by the ad‐hoc Working Group on Sugars. The draft protocol was endorsed by the Panel for public consultation at its plenary meeting on 12 December 2017. The written public consultation was open from 9 January to 4 March 2018. A technical meeting with stakeholders was held in Brussels on 13 February 2018, during the consultation period. Stakeholders were encouraged to submit their comments in writing within the consultation deadline. EFSA received comments from 46 interested parties. EFSA and its NDA Panel wish to thank all stakeholders for their contributions. The present report summarises the outcome of the public consultation, and includes a brief summary of the comments received and how they were addressed. In particular, the report describes the revisions of the draft protocol that have been applied in light of the comments received. The protocol will be implemented in order to draft a Scientific Opinion on the Tolerable Upper Intake Level of dietary sugars. Another public consultation will be organised on the draft scientific opinion, which is foreseen to be endorsed by the NDA Panel at the end of 2019.