Food Safety

In May 2003 the five Scientific Committees providing the Commission with scientific advice on food safety were transferred to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). At the same time the Scientific Steering Committee's responsibilities relating to scientific advice on BSE/TSE were also transferred to EFSA.

These Committees, composed of independent scientists, were established in November 1997 by Commission Decision 97/579/EC. The Scientific Opinions of the Committees are made available to the public on the Commission’s Europa website. The agendas, minutes of meetings and lists of members are also published

This site contains archive material related to the Scientific Committees

- Scientific Steering Committee
- Scientific Committee on Food
- Scientific Committee on Animal Nutrition
- Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures relating to Public Health
- Scientific Committee on Plants
- Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare.

Under Regulation 178/2002/EC, every reference in Community legislation to the five Committees has been replaced by a reference to EFSA. The same legislation created an EFSA Scientific Committee and eight Scientific Panels. These Committee and Panels are composed of independent scientific experts.

Three Scientific Committees dealing with non-food issues remain in the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection and can be found here.