Innovation in food safety: navigating the future together

The 7th Stakeholder forum was held in Brussels on November 27. “The key objectives of this year’s Forum were to collectively explore the impact of innovation on food safety risk assessment, to address the challenges and opportunities presented by technological advancements, and to foster dialogue among industry, civil society, and other stakeholders” (Executive report).

There was a plenary session, panel discussions, workshops, etc., all meant to explore the forum theme. EFSA used the morning session to emphasize that the organization would like to increase transparency, which EFSA sees as one of the primary ways to build trust. Mr. Bernhard Url, the Acting Executive Director, also discussed that EFSA feels that there is a need for a faster authorization process. A panel discussion was devoted to addressing this topic, with the focus on how to balance safety with speed in EU food safety risk assessment.

ANME asks: If we accelerate the authorization process, then what corners (if any) do we cut in the process of doing so? We believe there is often a built-in feedback mechanism(s) that needs sufficient allotted time. As a result of this proper time, certain problems and/or concerns can come to light and be addressed that may have otherwise not been caught if an approval process is too hasty.

ANME asks: Considering the routine and frequent time spent on discussion about transparency and/or need for more transparency, we would like to know why this is actually not in practice to the fullest capacity it can be? Selective elements are transparent, yet transparency is not felt across all areas where stakeholders can be confident that what you see is what you get. It is no surprise that this is why EFSA feels they need to work to gain further trust, and why EFSA selects transparency as an area where they think trust can be gained.

The Stakeholder Forum also featured three parallel workshops:

• Digitalization in food risk assessment covered the integration of bioinformatic and cheminformatic services, artificial intelligence (AI), stakeholder engagement, and regulatory compliance.
• Innovating the methodologies of food risk assessment, stressing the importance of stakeholder engagement and the development of clear, harmonized guidance documents.
• Science and innovation for sustainable and competitive food systems, tackling regulatory science gaps and the need to enhance collaboration.

ANME asks: In theory it is very good to hear about the idea of inclusivity, that EFSA is interested to include Stakeholders more, and is stressing the importance of Stakeholder involvement. We wonder, however, according to whose terms will this involvement happen? EFSA has created a very specific structure for places where they see Stakeholders useful and areas where they prefer stakeholders to not be involved. We ask: can the Stakeholders be more involved in areas that WE as stakeholders see relevant? Especially, we would like to see the further involvement of the NGO categories of Stakeholders where profit is not the leading impetus.

The closing plenary session summarized the highlights and discussions from the workshops. Key conclusion: Innovation is essential for advancing food safety and competitiveness.

The Stakeholder Forum participants provided recommendations:

• Improve communication with more regular updates
• Expanding, and enhancing training and digital support tools
• Further engaging stakeholders through expert hearings and workshops
• Standardizing data formats for improved interoperability
• Simplifying guidance documents with public input, and
• Increasing funding and expertise development for risk assessment bodies

ANME agrees in particular that including public input and offering documents that are readable and more easily understood by laypeople can really help increase dialogue. ANME believes that the Stakeholders and EFSA will be awarded a very good opportunity to understand general consensus outside of the specific niche groups of the Stakeholders. Such accessibility will allow for the general public to have a greater voice. There are experts everywhere in our communities, and EFSA would have a lot to learn from this unique feedback system.