Ad-hoc meeting with GMO industry representatives

The ad hoc meeting with industry representatives (GMO applicants) was organized by EFSA on the 18th of April 2023; the meeting was the second in 2023, following an ad hoc meeting held in February 2023 to present and discuss the software tool for peptide binding prediction.  

The meeting was a half-day one and held remotely. The following points were discussed:

1. Administrative and procedural issues. EFSA provided an overview of the progress on the risk assessment of applications and made suggestions on how to optimise the risk assessment process.
2. Updates on bioinformatics assessment. EFSA provided an overview of the main observations from the assessment of the data. EFSA committed to provide further input during the meeting in autumn.
3. EFSA Technical Note on Sequencing. Upon request by CLE, EFSA reported that an activity for the updating of the Plant Technical Note on DNA sequencing quality has started. 
4. Post marketing Environmental monitoring. CropLife Europe (CLE) provided their views on the PMEM plan for food/feed import authorisations.
5. EFSA mandates. EFSA provided some insights on various mandates received, including the Genetically modified microorganisms and animals mandates and the assessment of new information concerning MIR162 mandate.
6. EFSA scientific risk assessment guidance. EFSA provided an overview of recent updates of the EFSA website regarding GMO Scientific Guidance and requested feedback to be considered for future reviews. EFSA committed to provide further input during the meeting in autumn.

The next meeting is planned to take place in a hybrid mode in autumn 2023. We wish to thank all participants for the constructive discussions and excellent collaboration and are looking forward to meeting them all again at our next meeting.