Food Safety Evaluation The GMO Panel

An expert committee of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is responsible for evaluating the safety of all GM foods. Known as the GMO Panel, it is made up of independent scientists from a range of disciplines. They are not held to any prescribed directives from the EU or EFSA.

Decisions on whether or not to authorise a GM food are based on the expert advice of the GMO Panel. EFSA uses evaluations from the GMO Panel to formulate opinions, which it submits to the European Commission and to the Member States. The opinion is made available to the public, except for certain aspects that could compromise the applicant’s economic interests by disclosing techniques and sensitive information to competitors. The final decisions themselves, however, are made by the member states in the European Council or by the European Commission.

The GMO Panel prepared a comprehensive set of guidelines, which set out what information must be included with an application for authorisation and set the basis for conducting GMO safety evaluations. Various stakeholders were invited to advise on the draft’s guidelines. After several rounds of consultation and revision, the document was adopted by EFSA, and now it is used as a scientifically-backed framework for evaluating GMO safety. In the future, revisions will be made to keep the guidelines up-to-date.

European Food Safety Authority

EFSA was established in 2002 as the central authority for the scientific evaluation of food and feed safety in the EU. As of 2005, EFSA is permanently based in Parma, Italy.

EFSA was established based on legal obligations under regulation (EG) 178/2002 of the European Parliament and European Council addressing basic principles of food law. New food law legislation and hence EFSA were created in response to a number of food scandals that shook consumer confidence. EFSA addresses two main areas:

• scientific risk evaluation for all questions related to food and feed safety

• informing the public and communicating risks

EFSA offers a solid scientific basis for making informed political decisions. The decisions themselves, however, are the responsibility of political bodies such as the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council of Ministers (risk management). EFSA cooperates closely with national authorities of all Member States.

See also on GMO-Compass:

• Evaluating Safety: A Major Undertaking