EFSA Supporting Publications最新文献

A pilot was carried out in order to test new ways of engaging with stakeholders alongside traditional public consultations. The project focused on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)'s upcoming scientific opinion on plant lectins in food. This initiative aimed to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and scientific quality of stakeholder contributions, addressing misconceptions and supporting mutual understanding of risk communication strategies. The pilot involved a targeted interactive public hearing using engagement tools to encourage participation and gather technically informed input. Insights from EFSA staff revealed that the hearing worked well especially in terms of engagement and moderation, although improvements were suggested for interactivity and handling participant questions. Stakeholder feedback indicated a positive experience, with suggestions for more discussion time. The report also looks at other EFSA experiences with complementary engagement methods, including work on risk-benefit assessment guidance, food additive, and animal welfare. These cases demonstrate the adaptability and effectiveness of structured, interactive formats in enhancing scientific assessment. The report introduces a decision tree and criteria for identifying suitable complementary formats based on topic nature, stakeholder interest, and the timing of the consultation.

This Technical Report addresses a mandate from the European Commission according to Article 31 of Regulation (European Commission) No 178/2002, which requests a review of the most common husbandry systems and current practices for keeping turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo) of all ages on farm. The mandate requests a description of litter availability, access to outdoors (including covered veranda), stocking density, the enrichment provided and the light scheme of each housing system, the use of cages and the practices of separation of sexes, mutilations and breeding practices, including artificial insemination. An extensive literature review, a survey amongst stakeholders, a public call for evidence addressed to stakeholders, data from EFSA Networks, reports from the European Commission (fact-finding studies), Eurostat and input from experts in the EFSA working group on the welfare of turkeys were considered. This report provides an overview of the turkey production process and the duration of its various stages. In the European Union the most common housing systems for keeping fattening turkeys are indoor floor systems with and without outdoor access and/or a covered veranda. Turkey breeders are kept in indoor systems. These systems, including hatcheries, are described in this report considering the availability of litter and enrichment, the stocking density and the light scheme applied. In addition, the practices of processing poults in hatcheries, including mutilations, and the practices of flock thinning and separation of sexes in fattening turkey farms, and artificial insemination in turkey breeders are described.

This document provides the conclusions of the pest survey card that was prepared in the context of the EFSA mandate on plant pest surveillance (M-2020-0114) at the request of the European Commission. The full pest survey card for Ips amitinus, I. cembrae, I. duplicatus and I. sexdentatus is published and available online in the EFSA Pest Survey Card gallery at the following link and will be updated whenever new information becomes available: https://efsa.europa.eu/plants/planthealth/monitoring/surveillance/ips-amitinus-cembrae-duplicatus-sexdentatus

This report describes a harmonised, stepwise methodology for the fit-for-purpose risk assessment of low-concern active substances (LCASs), developed in response to EFSA's call GP/EFSA/PLANTS/2023/04. LCASs include substances such as semiochemicals, botanicals, inorganics, peptides, and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), which generally have lower risk profiles than conventional active substances. However, the current risk assessment framework – primarily designed for conventional substances – often lacks the flexibility required to appropriately address LCASs. The approach described here is based on problem formulation using generic pathways to harm. It offers a structured methodology aimed at harmonising case-by-case assessments based on the specific properties of individual LCASs. This approach supports both qualitative and quantitative assessments and covers hazards other than conventional toxicity, such as suffocation, desiccation and RNA interference. To apply this approach in practice, a problem formulation toolbox is provided, comprising three main elements:

1. Generic pathways to harm

2. Generic analysis plans, including the Analysis plan tool

3. Guidance on likelihood assessment

This document provides the conclusions of the pest survey card that was prepared in the context of the EFSA mandate on plant pest surveillance (M-2020-0114) at the request of the European Commission. The full pest survey card for Dendroctonus micans is published and available online in the EFSA Pest Survey Card gallery at the following link and will be updated whenever new information becomes available: https://efsa.europa.eu/plants/planthealth/monitoring/surveillance/dendroctonus-micans

This document provides the conclusions of the pest survey card that was prepared in the context of the EFSA mandate on plant pest surveillance (M-2020-0114) at the request of the European Commission. The full pest survey card for Gilpinia hercyniae is published and available online in the EFSA Pest Survey Card gallery at the following link and will be updated whenever new information becomes available: https://efsa.europa.eu/plants/planthealth/monitoring/surveillance/gilpinia-hercyniae

In 2025, The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) organised two crisis preparedness trainings: one external crisis exercise simulating a “One Health” crisis response to a vector-borne disease outbreak, and one internal crisis exercise to assess and discuss EFSA's role in crisis communication during an animal health incident under Regulation 178/2002, which escalates into a public health crisis under Regulation 2022/2371 on Serious Cross Border Threats to Health (SCBTH). The exercises were also aiming at testing EFSA's procedures for crisis response. The two-and-half-day external exercise was co-organised with the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, and consisted in presentations, facilitated discussions and a crisis simulation exercise based on a fictional, multifaceted scenario combining animal health, public health and food safety aspects. The training mainly focused on how to integrate and implement a national and multi-agency response process to ensure a united crisis response under “One Health” approach. The internal crisis preparedness training focused on i) outlining EFSA's role regarding crisis communication, and the differences whether EFSA's assistance is requested under EU General Food Law (Reg. (EC) 178/2002) or for a serious cross border threat to health (Reg. (EU) 2022/2371), and ii) reviewing the adequacy of EFSA crisis procedures. The objectives of both events were achieved, based on recorded outcomes and feedback provided by participants. This Annual Report provides a concise summary of the external training, which was subject to a dedicated event report (EFSA, 2025), and a more detailed overview of the internal event, including its development, content and conclusions, as well as the evaluation received from the participants.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is a threat to poultry production. It is desirable to be able to forecast HPAI outbreaks to allow for the implementation of elevated biosecurity measures. The Bird Flu Radar tool is an early warning system for HPAI based on wild bird movement and abundance. Here we develop the wild bird movement component of the Bird Flu Radar model by exploiting abundance data, which have greater spatio-temporal coverage than movement (ring-recovery or tracking) data. We explore two approaches for estimating bird movement from abundance data, building on recent migratory connectivity studies. In the first, week-to-week movement between areas of high abundance was estimated using a graph-theoretic approach, with abundance in the intervening area also informing connectivity between locations. In the second, movement from breeding areas to wintering areas and back was simulated using an individual-based model, the parameter values of which were calibrated for each species using weekly abundance maps. The output pseudo-movements from the individual-based model were easily integrated into the long-distance movement model in the early warning system for HPAI, to update the long-distance movement estimates for all 25 wild bird study species. Overall, we find that there are fundamental shortcomings of abundance data for inferring bird movement. However, when the accuracy of abundance-derived pseudo-movements can be confirmed, then they can complement ring-recovery or tracking data. Spatio-temporal coverage is still sparser for movement data than for abundance data, and so efforts to develop methods to exploit abundance data are likely to be useful in future endeavours estimating bird movement, and in downstream applications such as forecasting HPAI transmission.

In accordance with Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, in conjunction with Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, the European Commission requested EFSA to provide a technical report presenting comparative dietary exposure calculations performed with PRIMo 4 and the currently used version of PRIMo (rev. 3.1). These comparisons shall allow to assess the impact of an implementation of PRIMo 4 on the outcome of the risk assessment performed in the context of setting MRLs under Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 and Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. EFSA therefore performed detailed analysis to assess the changes on acute and chronic exposure calculations resulting from the use of PRIMo 4 compared to the current version of PRIMo rev. 3.1. The assessment covered both theoretical calculations using default input values and practical examples selected from recently performed risk assessments.