ABOUT EFSA tender (CONTRACT NUMBER – OC/EFSA/DATA/2020/01)

Duration:  1 year – 29^th January 2021 to 29^th January 2022

Coordinator: EuroFIR

Project Partners: Creme Global Ltd (IE) & Capnutra Capacity development in nutrition (Serbia)

Source of funding: EFSA

EFSA holds a repository of EU Member States food consumption data, the Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database. This resource provides a basis for dietary exposure assessment and is used to inform risk assessments including chemical contaminants, food additives, and nutrition.

Dietary exposure is calculated by combining food consumption with occurrence data, which are reported at the raw primary commodity (RPC) level. To strengthen these assessments, an RPC model was developed in 2018 converting foods reported in the comprehensive database to RPC equivalents.

Since development of the RPC model, the comprehensive database has been updated to a more advanced food classification and description system (FoodEx2). Use of both a harmonised dietary survey methodology (EU Menu) and FoodEx2 allow for a broader and more accurate food consumption database, providing a basis for more robust basis for dietary exposure assessments. The comprehensive database was expected to expand using FoodEx2, so the RPC model needs to be aligned with FoodEx2 to ensure continued compatibility and relevance.

The aim of this project was to update RPC data model tables to ensure they are compatible with FoodEx2.

Role of EuroFIR AISBL

EuroFIR was leading project and coordinated development of protocols to deliver updated RPC tables. This activity included identification of information describing ingredients used in composite foods (e.g., recipes, ingredient lists), and yielded factors for processing (e.g., milling, peeling, juicing) and preparation methods (e.g., cooking methods, dilution, rehydration). EuroFIR also reviewed data generated by Creme Global and CAPNUTRA, which was included in the RPC model, and was responsible for communication with and reporting to EFSA.