Public consultation on the draft protocol for the Scientific Opinion on free sugars from all dietary sources

EFSA has launched an open consultation on its draft protocol for the Scientific Opinion on free sugars from all dietary sources.

This draft protocol describes the methodology that the EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Dietetic Products and Allergies (NDA Panel) will apply to address the request to define a science-based cut-off value for a daily exposure to free sugars from all dietary sources that is not associated with adverse health effects. This mandate was received from the national food authorities of five European countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), and it is expected to be finalised by February 2020 with the publication of the EFSA Scientific Opinion on free sugars from all dietary sources.

In particular, the draft protocol describes the strategies that will be applied for:

  • data collection and data selection (i.e. which data to use for the assessment and how to identify and select them),
  • appraisal of the relevant evidence, and
  • analysis and integration the relevant evidence

in order to draw conclusions that will form the basis for the Scientific Opinion.

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 NDA Panel of EFSA.

Please use the electronic template provided to submit comments and refer to the line and page numbers of the respective document. In case you encounter technical issues while filling-in the public consultation form, please make sure you first clean the browser's history or switch browser.

If you would like to submit data-sets to support your comments or submit files send an email to: NDA.PublicConsult.EUS.001 [at] efsa.europa.eu. Please note that comments will not be considered if they:

  • are submitted after the closing date of the public consultation;
  • are not related to the contents of the document;
  • contain complaints against institutions, personal accusations, irrelevant or offensive statements or material;
  • are related to policy or risk management aspects, which are 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 relevant EFSA Panel and taken into consideration if found to be relevant.

Persons or entities participating in the EFSA Public Consultation are responsible for ensuring that they hold all the rights necessary for their submissions and consequent publication by EFSA. Comments should inter alia be copyright cleared taking into account EFSA’s transparency policy and practise to publish all submissions. In case your submission reproduces third party content in the form of charts, graphs or images, please ensure that the required prior permissions of the right holder have been obtained.

All comments submitted will be published. Comments submitted by individuals in a personal capacity will be presented anonymously. Comments submitted formally on behalf of an organisation will appear with the name of the organisation.