According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on Monday 31 October, a cross-cutting strategy applicable to different EFSA working groups can only be beneficial for an optimum use of evidence in scientific assessments, but the different needs intrinsic to the scope of competences for the different working groups should also be taken into account.
This is the conclusion reached by the EU's main food safety body in a technical report on its own methodological needs for using evidence. This report was published in the EFSA Journal as part of the PROMETHEUS (Promoting Methods for Evidence Use in Scientific Assessment) project.
Methodological needs involve all the elements that can help fulfil the principles and implementation of the four-step approach applicable to the use of evidence (plan, implementation, verification, report): cross-cutting methodological documents for all panels and units, training for staff and experts, instructions for applicants to integrate the existing regulatory frameworks, specialised repositories of data, IT needs, or more structured and harmonised approaches to outsourcing data collection, appraisal and syntheses. The methodological needs were defined by a group of independent experts and EFSA staff, on the basis of a survey managed by EFSA panel members and scientific staff between December 2015 and March 2016.
It was in the context of the PROMETHEUS project that a scientific report was developed illustrating the principles for evidence use (impartiality, excellence in scientific assessments, transparency, openness and responsiveness) and describing the four-step approach to be followed to fulfil these principles. PROMETHEUS also includes a phase during which implementation of this approach is subject to a range of case studies that can help identify additional methodological needs. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)