In October, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) launched a series of digital events to inform stakeholders about it engagement to increase transparency and dialogue with civil society. As the voice of food allergy patients in Europe, EFA supports and contributes to the scientific and regulatory work of the agency, who runs allergenicity risk assessments and prevention evaluations before authorising any food for commercialisation within the EU Single Market space.
The EFSA Engagement series will run until June 2021 and it is designed to help EFSA evolve the way it engages with stakeholders, such as EFA, and further align with the Transparency Regulation and ambitions of the EFSA Strategy 2027.
Towards an evolved EFSA engagement framework
In the first meeting of the series, EFSA presented the three main engagement streams of this framework: Quality of Science, Preparedness, and Stakeholder Dialogue.
The agency has planned to conduct a large number of initiatives within these streams, including a digital workshop on cooperation in preparation for future challenges (26 January 2021); the launch of a dissemination portal on scientific evidence (March 2021); and a workshop on building a digital community (April 2021).
The creation of Discussion Groups on Emerging Risks
EFSA also organised several technical discussion groups. The stakeholder discussion group on Emerging risk identification (StaDG -ER), met virtually on December 9 and 10. EFA was represented by its Board Member Erna Botjes and Policy Advisor Panagiotis Chaslaridis.
One of the issues discussed was the emerging risks addressed or generated by the implementation of the European Green Deal, as well as an exchange on key areas of relevance, such as the reduction chemical pesticides in the production of food, and the reduction of food waste.
Further EFSA plans on stakeholder engagement
The planning for 2021 is in full force, as EFSA is also organising its annual roundtable with NGOs in April 2021. The aim is to exchange views, provide the latest updates on EFSA’s scientific work, and seek feedback and suggestions to allow a continuous improvement of the way EFSA engages with stakeholders from the NGO world.
To learn more about EFSA’s stakeholder engagement approach, please consult its website.