OECD Consensus Document on Considerations for Collaborative Work on Safety Assessment of Foods and Feeds Derived from rDNA Plants

The Working Party for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds (WP-SNFF) aims to assist countries in evaluating the potential risks of novel foods and feeds derived from genetically-engineered organisms, foster communication and mutual understanding of relevant regulations in countries, and facilitate harmonisation in risk/safety assessment of products from modern biotechnology. The WP-SNFF’s main outputs are the science-based consensus documents on compositional considerations, which are mutually acceptable among member countries and partners. These practical tools contain information for use during the regulatory safety assessment of a particular food/feed product.

This document is the first publication in the Series to address collaborative work in novel food and feed safety assessment. It serves as a resource for regulatory agencies seeking to collaborate on the safety assessment of foods and feeds derived from transgenic plants. It describes various types of collaborative work among agencies, potential benefits and challenges of implementing such activities, underlying principles and foundations that may facilitate collaboration, aspects to consider when preparing and evaluating such work. It also provides real-world examples of collaborative work between agencies.