Info session on the updated guidance document concerning the risk-benefit assessment (RBA) of foods
Background
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has updated its 2010 guidance on the risk-benefit assessment (RBA) of foods. The update addresses methodological developments and regulatory needs. While it retains the stepwise RBA approach, it provides additional methods for complex assessments, such as those of multiple chemical hazards and all relevant health effects impacting different population subgroups. The updated guidance document includes approaches for systematic identification, prioritisation, and selection of hazardous and beneficial food components. It also offers updates relevant to characterising adverse and beneficial effects, such as measures of effect size and dose-response modelling. The guidance document expands options for characterising risks and benefits, incorporating variability, uncertainty, severity categorisation, and ranking of different (beneficial or adverse) effects.
The health impact of different types of effects is assessed qualitatively or quantitatively, depending on the problem formulation, scope of the RBA question, and data availability. The integration of risks and benefits often involves value-based judgements and should ideally be performed with the risk-benefit manager. Metrics such as disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) can be used. Additional approaches are presented, such as probability of all relevant effects and/or effects of given severities and their integration using severity weight functions. The update includes practical guidance on reporting results, interpreting outcomes, and communicating the outcome of an RBA, considering consumer perspectives and responses to advice.
Following endorsement by the Scientific Committee, a public consultation on the draft updated guidance document was held from 19 February until 2 April 2024.
Objectives of the meeting
In this context, EFSA organised a webinar to present the draft guidance document, share further information on its scope and technical content, invite feedback from relevant stakeholders, and provide context for the public consultation.
Structure of the meeting
| 10:00 -10:05 | Opening of the event: introduction and outline |
| 10:05 -10:50 | Introduction to the mandate and scope of the draft guidance |
| 10:50 -11:50 | Q&A session |
| 11:50 -12:00 | Closing of the event: wrap-up and farewell |
Contact
Do not hesitate to contact the organising committee at events [at] efsa.europa.eu (events[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu) for more information.
Documents
The draft Scientific Guidance is available for public consultation until 2 April 2024 on EFSA’s Connect platform.