Development of a roadmap for action on the application of Omics and associated Bioinformatics Approaches in Risk Assessment

Abstract

The implementation of omics technologies and associated bioinformatics approaches hold significant promise for generating additional evidence for food and feed risk assessments thereby enhancing the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) capacity to deliver scientific opinions and guidance documents in the future. To explore this possibility, EFSA launched a Call for the development of a roadmap to identify the main actions needed for a wider use of Omics in future risk assessments. To address this objective, this action roadmap outlines six project proposals. These proposals are based on a comprehensive mapping of the state‐of‐the‐art omics and associated bioinformatics technologies in research, EFSA's activities as well as current and planned activities from other relevant regulatory bodies and organisations. The outlined recommendations also address some of the identified main knowledge gaps and highlight the added value that further investments in the different food & feed safety scientific domains could bring. In addition, the work in this roadmap addresses some key challenges and blockers that might hinder a wider integration of omics in risk assessment and leverages on the opportunities for cooperation with external stakeholders. Finally, this roadmap provides suggestions on how EFSA may more broadly and effectively engage with relevant stakeholders in the use of omics technologies and associated bioinformatics approaches in regulatory science.