On 29 October, EFA participated in the digital event on Qualitative Risk Assessment organised by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). It was the 2nd meeting gathering the members of the ILSI Task Force working on “Improving the assessment and management of food allergen risks to protect people with food allergies” stakeholders on the topic, following the launch on the Working Group in June.
EFA’s Policy Advisor Panagiotis Chaslaridis attended the event as a member of the activity’s Stakeholder Advisory Group. EFA was also represented by board members Carla Jones from the UK, Marcia Podestá from Italy, and EFA’s member Sabine Schnadt from Germany.
During the meeting we explored how to draw conclusions for a guidance document on Food Allergen Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) across the Supply Chain, including Precautionary Labelling.
Allergen Quantitative Risk Assessment in perspective
A key component of the ILSI project is to examine the elements of Allergen Quantitative Risk Assessment application in 3 different contexts: 1) in the Supply Chain, 2) Cross-Contamination during the production process, and 3) Production Error or Incident.
The three work streams aim to achieve specific goals: to develop guidance on how to collect “best in class” data for allergen QRA within complex supply chains; a systematic, harmonised approach to proactively assess risk in all steps of the production process; and to develop a systematic, harmonised approach to the application of QRA for unpredictable incidents.
The participants were informed about the progress of work by the activity experts and had the opportunity to provide input based on examples mimicking real-life conditions.
The next meeting of the Stakeholder Advisory Group is foreseen for mid-2021.