The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is running a public consultation on its draft Strategy 2020, a process which will fix the organisation’s strategic and operational objectives for the next five years as well as putting practical steps in place to turn its “objectives into reality”.
“Strategy 2020 will help ensure that EFSA can anticipate and address the risks presented by an increasingly complex supply chain and contribute to a high level of consumer protection and trust,” said the chair of the authority’s management board, Sue Davies.
“Enhancing transparency and stakeholder engagement will be essential to achieve this, from the development of mandates and throughout the risk assessment process. It is important that stakeholders respond to the consultation and contribute their views on how this can best be achieved.”
The draft document examines a number of emerging “drivers of change” that will directly influence the direction of EFSA’s work between now and 2020. These include:
- the continuing globalisation of food production and trade;
- the emergence of new risks and hazards that ask difficult questions of risk assessors and scientists;
- the evolution of scientific knowledge and proliferation of new sources of data; and
- expectations from society for public bodies to be more open in the way they work.
EFSA has also developed five key strategic objectives to guide its future work:
- Prioritise public engagement in the process of scientific assessment.
- Widen EFSA’s evidence base and maximise access to its data.
- Build the EU’s scientific assessment capacity and knowledge community.
- Prepare for future risk assessment challenges.
- Create an environment and culture that reflects EFSA’s values.
The consultation will remain open until November 20, 2015.