Technical meeting on applications for food enzymes

Background

According to Regulation (EC) No 1332/2008, all food enzymes already on the EU market as well as new food enzymes are subject to a safety evaluation by EFSA. The outcome of this evaluation supports the European Commission in establishing the first Community list for food enzymes.

Since the entry into force of the Transparency Regulation in March 2021, new measures have been laid down regarding legal and procedural requirements for handling technical dossiers of the food enzymes applications. 

Moreover, upon the publication of the new guidance document for the submission of dossiers on food enzymes in October 2021 and the catalogue of food groups and technical factors in June 2023, EFSA has identified recurrent data gaps and frequent issues in the submitted dossiers, which often hinder the assessment process and compromise successful evaluation outcomes. 

In this context, EFSA has recently developed tools aimed at advancing and facilitating the risk assessment of food enzymes:

• An integrated Food Enzyme Intake Model (FEIM) web tool to estimate the exposure to food enzymes when applied in one or more food manufacturing processes;
• A bioinformatic pipeline implementing the methodology to analyse antimicrobial resistance (AMR) gene distribution among genomes, and a catalogue of AMR genes in Bacillus species used to produce food enzymes. 

In light of these developments, a technical meeting is deemed necessary to take stock of the situation and exchange views. The meeting will be an opportunity for EFSA to better explain and clarify these topics while paving the way for better quality dossiers.

Objectives of the meeting

The event is intended for EFSA and participants to exchange views on scientific issues related to food enzyme applications. It will focus on the most common issues throughout the risk assessment process leading to non-favourable outputs. During the event, there will be occasion to tackle procedural aspects specific to food enzyme dossiers under the various practical arrangements implementing the Transparency Regulation (EU) 2019/138, and to explain how confidentiality claims are checked and assessed by EFSA.

The event will also be the occasion to introduce the Food Enzyme Intake Model (FEIM) web tool as well as the catalogue of AMR genes in Bacillus species used to produce food enzymes.

To ensure alignment with stakeholders’ interests, EFSA will shape the programme taking into consideration questions, suggestions, and clarification needs from participants collected during the registration phase.

Who should attend?

The event is intended for all stakeholders interested in food enzymes, with a focus on applicants and consultants in the field. Participation is limited to a maximum of 65 participants, including speakers identified by EFSA.

Organisational details

The event will take place in Parma, Italy on 24 October 2024, from 14:00 to 18:00, and on 25 October 2024, from 09:00 to 18:00 CEST. Further details will be communicated to the selected participants. English will be the language of the event, and no translation will be provided.

The event is intended for in-person participation. Online participation will be ensured via web streaming; however, online participants will not have the possibility to interact during the meeting, neither orally nor in writing.

There is no fee for participation. However, in-person participants are required to cover expenses related to travel and accommodation.

Registration form

The registration form can be found here.

Please note that registration may close once the maximum number of participants is reached or, at the latest by 19 July 2024 at 24:00 CEST. 

After closure of registration, potential participants will be selected to ensure appropriate representation of the various fields of expertise, as well as representation of stakeholder groups and geographical balance. Potential participants will be informed whether or not they have been selected for participation.

Contact

Do not hesitate to contact the organising committee at events [at] efsa.europa.eu (events[at]efsa[dot]europa[dot]eu) for more information.