Novel foods Risk Assessment Data Modelling and Extraction (NORA) — final report

Abstract

The Novel Foods Risk Assessment Data Modelling and Extraction (NORA) project, commissioned by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and implemented by EcoMole s.r.o., aimed to develop a structured database to support the risk assessment process for novel foods (NF). The project encompassed three key objectives: (1) designing a comprehensive data model for NF opinions, leveraging and extending existing frameworks like OpenFoodTox 2.0; (2) extracting and integrating data from published NF opinions into the database; and (3) creating a guideline for systematic data entry to support future use. The resulting data model successfully captured administrative, compositional, toxicological, and allergenic properties of NFs with approximately 35% of the data model adopted from OpenFoodTox 2.0 and 65% representing new or refined elements specific to NF assessment. Relevant data from 196 NF opinions published by June 2024 were extracted and integrated into the database. The database supports advanced querying, filtering, and exporting functionalities, while a user interface facilitates efficient data entry and visualisation.