On 19-20 February, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)met its so-called Focal Points, namely people who act as an interface between EFSA and stakeholders from national food safety authorities and competent ministries, research institutes and consumers, in order to exchange information about scientific activities at EU level.

The agenda of the 19thmeeting between National Focal Points and EFSA included various internal issues, such as providing updates on the EFSA’s expert database (EDB) launched in 2008, the self-review of EFSA’s scientific networks and feedback from the discussion group on developing a guideline on the coordination of the work of national representatives in EFSA scientific network.

On top of these issues, special importance was given to EFSA’s landmark scientific opinion of the ANS panel on the re-evaluation of aspartame as a food additive, which has also been discussed in the meeting. It is reminded that the Opinion on aspartame was adopted in December 2013, having concluded once again that aspartame and its breakdown products can be safely consumed by the general population.

With that seminal decision, which marked the culmination of numerous scientific reviews, EFSA certified anew the safety of aspartame, following the extensive review of over 2,000 studies and datasets, and reiterated as well the fact that levels of consumption are still much lower than the current ADI.

The scientific information reviewed in the recent assessment included both published and unpublished data and studies, received following two public calls by EFSA, as well as the over 200 comments received during the public consultation on the draft opinion of EFSA which had been issued in January 2013.EFSA’s updated opinion on aspartame reconfirmed the findings published in the opinions of its predecessor, the Scientific Committee on Food, issued in 1988, 1997 and 2002, as well as in that of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).

EFSA’s Opinion on aspartame provides powerful assistance to people who are fighting obesity or have to live with or are at risk of developing diabetes and are in need of managing their weight.

The final Opinion on aspartame by EFSA has been the result of a new assessment of the scientific research on aspartame, as part of a thorough re-evaluation process of all food additives permitted for use before January 2009 that is expected to be completed by 2020.The Focal Points network is made up of members from all 28 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway, as well as observers from Switzerland and EU candidate countries and its role consists in supporting the practical implementation of activities related to networking and scientific cooperation.

EFSA and Focal Points meet on a regular basis, usually three times a year and thanks to their coordinated efforts the scientific cooperation and networking activities between and among Member States and EFSA have improved significantly during the recent years.

Angelos Koveos