Workshop on read-across: role and guidance in chemical risk assessment
Background
Read-across is an approach used in chemical risk assessment for screening, classification, prioritisation and hazard assessment of substances, based on toxicological data of similar chemicals. It is meant to complement and inform the risk assessment, e.g. to provide supporting evidence that must be seen as part of the overall weight of evidence (WoE). The process includes the use of known information from one or more (data-rich) source substances to predict the same property for a (data-poor) target substance, and it is one of the most common alternatives to animal testing for filling data gaps.
The practical steps for developing a category and analogue approach have been previously established. The read-across approach outlined in the OECD guidance documents (OECD 2007, with revisions in 2014 and 2024), as well as ECHA’s Guidance (2008) and Framework (2017) developed in the context of information requirements under REACH regulation, have been applied and modified for use in various other domains. In addition, ECHA is currently working on a practical guide for the application of grouping and read-across under Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP).
In this context, EFSA’s Scientific Committee identified a similar need within its remit and is developing guidance on the use of read-across in food and feed risk assessment. The draft guidance is available for public consultation from 10 March to 21 April 2025.
Objectives of the workshop
The first objective of the workshop was to examine regulatory approaches on read-across that had been developed and implemented by different organisations, supporting further the alignment of methodologies applied in chemical risk assessment.
The second objective was to discuss and clarify technical aspects of read-across, and to receive feedback on the related draft guidance developed by EFSA.
Overall, the workshop aimed to contribute to strengthening a robust, scientifically sound and transparent application of read-across in chemical risk assessment across organisations.
The outcome of the workshop will be summarised in a report to be published in EFSA Supporting Publications.
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
Presentations
- Presentation 2 - Read-across application for food or feed ingredients - Sylvia Escher
- Presentation 1 - Introduction to read-across approach - Mark Cronin
- Presentation 3 - OECD’s guidance on grouping of chemicals, with a focus on the read-across - Ester Carregal Romero
- Presentation 4 - ECHA’s activities and guidance related to grouping and read-across - George Cartlidge
- Presentation 5 - EFSA’s draft guidance on the use of read-across in food and feed safety assessment - Lucian Farcal