Jose Julio Ortega-Calvo, researcher at IRNAS-CSIC, has been recently re-elected, through his nomination by SETAC Europe and a vote in his category, as the representative in the academia stakeholder category for the Stakeholder Bureau of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the next three years. Six stakeholder groups are represented in this Bureau – consumer organizations, distributors, farmers and primary producers, NGOs and advocacy groups, academia, business and food industry and practitioners’ associations.
The representative role for J.J. Ortega consists of maintaining with EFSA a dialogue which considers the views of the academic stakeholders included in this category, which constitute scientific organizations on very different subjects: Environmental toxicology and chemistry, chemistry, nutrition, research and innovation, social and environmental responsibility, and global harmonization.
One of the most immediate objectives will be, as a a member of the recently established Sounding Board of EFSA, to sustain the communication in relation to the implementation of the new Regulation (EU) 1381/2019, the ‘Transparency Regulation’, which will occur in 2021. This regulation implies, besides other aspects, a significant increase of resources for EFSA´s activities (including an own research programme), in coordination with member states.
A series of articles have been published on these activities in SETAC Globe, a publication reaching more than 10,000 environmental professionals over the World:
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SETAC Europe Participates in the European Food Safety Authority Stakeholder Bureau (October 2017).
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SETAC Europe to European Food Safety Authority Stakeholder Forum 2018: Providing SETAC–EFSA Coordinates (November 2018).
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Communicating Face-to-Face With EFSA (February 2019).