Public consultation on the draft report for assessing the allergenicity of GM plants and microorganisms and derived food and feed

Request for public consultation

EFSA’s GMO Panel has published for public consultation a draft report on the assessment of allergenicity of GM plants and microorganisms and derived food and feed.

This report discusses various aspects to increase the strength and accuracy of the weight-of-evidence approach which is done on a step-by-step and case-by-case basis, and which is considered the most appropriate way of assessing the allergenicity of GM food and feed. The report consists of conclusions and recommendations to update and complement the EFSA Guidance Document of the EFSA GMO Panel as regards the allergenicity assessment of newly expressed protein(s) and whole GM food and feed.

In line with EFSA’s policy on openness and transparency and in order for EFSA to receive comments from the scientific community and stakeholders, EFSA has launched a public consultation on the draft document developed by the EFSA GMO Panel.

Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by 14 February 2010. Please use exclusively the electronic template provided with the documents to submit comments and refer to the line and page numbers. Please note that comments submitted by e-mail or by post cannot be taken into account and that a submission will not be considered if it is:

• submitted after the deadline set out in the call
• presented in any form other than what is provided for in the instructions and template
• not related to the contents of the document
• contains complaints against institutions, personal accusations, irrelevant or offensive statements or material
• is related to policy or risk management aspects, which is out of the scope of EFSA's activity.

EFSA will assess all comments from interested parties which are submitted in line with the criteria above. The comments will be further considered by the EFSA GMO Panel and taken into consideration if found to be relevant.