Public given access to EFSA scientific data
Posted 22 January, 2019
Last week, it was announced that EFSA will begin sharing the scientific data it uses for EU-wide monitoring programmes and surveys, as well as data used for risk assessments. The announcement comes after discussions regarding EFSA’s desire to improve its transparency with applicants and stakeholders, and to widen their evidence base.
EFSA plans to share all said data, which covers the following areas:
- Food consumption habits
- Pesticide residues in food
- Chemical contaminants and additives in food
- Foodborne disease outbreaks
- Antimicrobial resistance
With making the data more accessible, it is complying with EFSA’s objectives of increasing access to data and encouraging interaction between the public, EFSA, and its stakeholders. It also corresponds with EFSA’s aim to facilitate the public’s access to the information in general.
It is thought that this change will greatly benefit stakeholders and also the Member States of the EU who already supply EFSA with the majority of this information.
The data will be open to the public, and can be accessed via Knowledge Junction, a sharing platform on Zenodo.
For more information, please visit the official EFSA website.