Outcome of a public consultation on a draft protocol for a systematic review on health outcomes related to the age of introduction of complementary food for the scientific assessment of the appropriate age of introduction of complementary feeding into an infant's diet

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) carried out a public consultation to receive input from the scientific community and all interested parties on a draft protocol for a systematic review on health outcomes related to the age of introduction of complementary food for the scientific assessment of the appropriate age of introduction of complementary feeding into an infant’s diet, prepared by the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA Panel) and endorsed by the Panel for public consultation at its Plenary meeting on 1 February 2017. The written public consultation for this document was open from 16 February to 23 March 2017. EFSA received comments from two interested parties. EFSA and its NDA Panel wish to thank all stakeholders for their contributions. The current report summarises the outcome of the public consultation, and includes a summary of the comments received and how the comments were addressed. The Working Group on Infant Nutrition prepared an updated version of the protocol for a systematic review on health outcomes related to the age of introduction of complementary food for the scientific assessment of the appropriate age of introduction of complementary feeding into an infant’s diet, taking into account the comments received. The protocol was endorsed by the NDA Panel on 27 June 2017, and is published in the EFSA Journal.