Plant health newsletter: what’s on the horizon?

EFSA’s monthly round-up of plant health coverage in the media is now available on the EFSA Journal platform. The newsletter gathers together published articles and updates on plant pests that have been identified as potential threats to crops, forests and parks in the European Union.

The newsletter is primarily intended to help risk managers and risk assessors in the field of plant health and to alert the European Commission and EU countries to emerging or growing threats. Now EFSA is also making it available to stakeholders, journalists, academics and anyone who has an interest in the area.

The newsletter is produced in cooperation with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and EU Member States.

Giuseppe Stancanelli, leader of EFSA’s plant health team, said: “Media monitoring is an essential part of EFSA’s horizon-scanning activities. By regularly screening media and scientific publications we can identify new, emerging or recurring pests – insects, bacteria, viruses and other organisms – that might be of concern to the EU territory.

“This information helps risk assessors and risk managers to prepare for and prevent possible outbreaks of new plant pests and diseases.”

The newsletter has been piloted with risk managers at the European Commission for the past two years and is now publicly available via the EFSA Journal. All the back issues are also available.