This task force collaborated with leading international scientists to develop a comprehensive, internationally agreed upon approach for the safety assessment of these nutritionally enhanced crops. A draft document developed in 2003 underwent extensive international peer review (23 scientists), as well as discussion and further refinement by 26 attendees from the Eighth Meeting of the OECD Task Force on the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds at an international workshop in Paris in December 2003. The Executive Summary of this document was published in the March 2004 issue of the Journal of Food Science, and in April 2004, the full document was published in an on-line journal, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. In 2004, the document was referenced in the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Draft Guidance Document for the Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Plants and Derived Food and Feed.
The document is available free to the public at: http://members.ift.org/NR/rdonlyres/27BE106D-B616-4348-AE3A-091D0E536F40/0/crfsfsv3n2p00350104ms20040106.pdf.
Workshops on this document were held in Argentina (September 2004), and Japan and Korea (May 2005) Participants included regulatory affairs professionals from the public and private sectors, and academics.
The task force is finishing work on Phase 2 of this project, developing case studies document to show how to apply recommendations published in 2004.