European leaders forge on, food-safety agency the goal
06/01/2001
Mark A. DeSorbo
BRUSSELS, Belgium—The European Union (EU) took a major step in establishing a food-safety agency by creating an interim scientific advisory board, a panel that EU Health Commissioner David Byrne says will provide a key forum where potential conflicts over risk assessment and results can be "clarified and, if possible, resolved."
Despite reports that political infighting has been stalling its development, the European Food Authority (EFA) is expected to be in operation by next year as intended, a EU spokesperson says.
"The legislation is going through the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers and it should be approved by autumn," Beate Gminder,
EU spokesperson for Health and Consumer Protection, told CleanRooms. "The EFA should be operating by the spring of 2002."
The greatest challenge, so far, has been overcoming inter-state rivalry regarding where the agency should be sited. Officials from France, German, Spain, Finland and Italy have come forward offering their homelands, while Barcelona, Parma and Helsinki are the front-running cities. A decision on where to base the EFA is expected at a EU summit this month in Gothenburg.
The nuts and bolts of the EFA
The essence of establishing the EFA is to regain public confidence and ensure food safety, says Byrne.
"Safety is the most important ingredient in our food," he said in a presentation to fellow European leaders. "Europe must have the capacity to ensure that we can deliver this to our consumers. This legislative package is designed to overcome the weaknesses of the past and put food safety firmly on top of our agenda."
According to Byrne's presentation, the main functions of the EFA are to provide independent scientific opinions at the request of the commission, member states, national food bodies or the European Parliament; give advice on technical food issues to underpin policy and legislation in the areas of food safety and nutrition, as well as animal health and welfare, and plant health; collect and analyze data on dietary patterns, exposure and risks for monitoring food safety in the EU; identify emerging risks; day-to-day operation of the rapid alert system covering both food and feed; and have a clear communication role to inform the public on all matters within its mandate.
"We need an agency that is going to take up a very strong role in communicating with the public," Gminder says. "It will speak for itself and not be part of the European Parliamentary process."
The EFA proposal, however, indicates that the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, and the European Parliament will each appoint four representatives to serve on the EFA's management board. The committee will also include four consumer and industry representatives.
The agency will also appoint an executive director for a five-year term and form scientific panels to evaluate additives, flavorings and processing aids that come into contact with food and animal feed. Additional panels will be formed to evaluate plant protection products and their residues; genetically-modified organisms, dietetic products, nutrition and allergies; biological hazards; contaminants in the food chain; and animal health and welfare.
"The new food law provides the basic principles and requirements for the marketing of food and for the assurance of a safe food supply to consumers. It will also address the safety of animal feeds particularly where these may have a direct or indirect effect on food safety," Byrne says. "A key element of the [EFA] is the closest involvement of the food safety authorities of the member states to facilitate the early identification of emerging risks and to avoid confusing and conflicting messages to consumers."
Fine tuning
Meanwhile, debate continues over several matters involving the EFA, Gminder says.
"There are still changes to be made to the legislation. The establishment of the EFA is being fined tuned," she says, adding that the EFA "was never envisioned and never proposed to be similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unlike the FDA, the EU Commission and executive body will make legislative decisions and handle risk management.
"The agency will concentrate on scientific assessment of risks and be active in communicating with public. It will be an agency has to be fined tuned for European needs," Gminder adds.
However, some EU leaders believe the spring 2002 target date is too ambitious.
At the European Consumers' Day conference, held in Brussels in mid-March, Robert Coleman, director-general of the European Commission's Consumer Affairs, said he remains doubtful. "Two years is a short time to put the [EFA] in place," he says. "We made every effort to have it functioning from 2002. However, we are not at all sure this is possible."
Coleman, however, did say that the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament is working toward the establishing the EFA by the targeted date, but would not rule out forming a "proto-agency."
In her review of the EFA establishment path, Eva Hurt, of the UK's Leatherhead Food Research Association, a food safety organization, says that while complicated procedures and lengthy debates could stall the proposed timetable, the EFA's definition of food remains "fraught with difficulty."
Food is defined in the EFA proposal as "any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed, intended to be or reasonably expected to be consumed by humans."
Hurt explains that the definition is vague and does not contribute any "significant added value to the existing legal situation."
"One of the key factors to consider is that an adequate definition of food will provide legal certainty and help clarify, among others, the boundaries between foodstuffs and medicine," she adds.
Insufficient budget
Aside from timetables and definitions, other EU officials believe the proposed $40 million budget for the EFA is insufficient and that a projected staff size of 300, consisting of mostly scientists, would not be enough representation.
"The budget, as we see it, is far too small, even at the start," Caroline Jackson, chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, said at the consumers' day conference. Jackson also suggested that the EFA governing body may give the impression of being overburdened and that consumer representatives should be appointed as well.
Gote Frerichs, chair of the EU Economic and Social Committee, shared Jackson's sentiments. "We must avoid the EFA becoming just a mouthpiece without any real powers," he says, adding that he welcomes the EFA, but is "worried about the food authority getting enough authority to do its job properly."
The main objective, however, is to have some semblance of a food authority as soon as possible, Coleman says. Even if a formal decision on establishing a formal agency is delayed and a temporary agency is created, he says "the EFA will function in one way."