Food safety: New rules to boost consumer trust approved by MEPs
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- Common European Database to stop unfavourable studies being withheld
- European Food Safety Authority can make studies public
- Addresses concerns raised during European Citizens’ Initiative on glyphosate
New rules to ensure reliability and transparency in EU food safety risk assessment procedure were adopted on Wednesday.
MEPs have approved new rules, already agreed with EU ministers, which ensure the EU’s risk assessment procedure for food safety is more reliable, transparent and objective, passing with 603 votes in favour, 17 against and 27 abstentions.
Unfavourable studies will no longer be withheld
The new rules will create a common European Database of commissioned studies to deter companies applying for authorisation from withholding unfavourable studies. This will allow the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to make submitted studies public for third party scrutiny, which may be used to identify whether other relevant scientific data or studies exist, to ensure accuracy.
In addition, to ensure the new rules are transparent, applicants must disclose all information relevant for assessing safety; however, some information, such as the manufacturing or production process, may be kept confidential.
Finally, the new law also supports the implementation of a new pre-submission advisory procedure that enables EFSA to advise applicants on how to submit their application for authorisation correctly, making the process more reliable.
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