Paper 13.1 ACSS Secretariat Update (July 2024)

SUMMARY

This paper is for information and provides an update to members on secretariat activity.  Key meeting dates and topics of discussion at other FSA SACs are presented in Annex A.

Previous meeting actions

There was one action from the previous plenary, which has been completed as per below. Status of actions will be reported in this format going forward.

Recruitment 

The FSA SAC recruitment campaign will launch in September. The ACSS will be looking for 3 or 4 new members as a number of current members come to the end of their terms of appointment in October this year. New members are expected to be in post in March 2025 and we are exploring the possibility of extending terms of appointment for those members involved in ongoing work.  

Skills assessment and updates to member biographies

Thank you to those who have completed the skills assessment. We will share full results when known, but currently the assessment suggests the ACSS has good levels of knowledge around consumer attitudes and behaviours to (changes in) the food system (e.g. online sales of food, community providers), and healthy and sustainable diets (e.g. meat reduction, low fat/low sugar consumption), and strong expertise in survey development, interviews and focus groups and research ethics. We anticipate that during recruitment we will be seeking new members with knowledge of business and organisational behaviours, and strong expertise in statistical techniques.

The ACSS website has now been updated been with the updated biographies provided by members.   

SAC appraisal

Thank you to those who completed the SAC annual appraisal. We hope to be able to share the results soon. 

SSEG

The Chair and Secretariat recently met with DEFRAs Social Science Expert Group (SSEG) and are continuing to look for possible areas of collaboration. We will meet with SSEG again in September, once the impact of any ministerial changes on DEFRA priorities has been considered.    

Ad hoc requests

In addition to working group activity (outlined in papers 13.2-13.5), ACSS members have undertaken a number of ad hoc tasks to support the work of the Analytics team since the last plenary. Thank you to those members who have taken on these tasks, which, in addition to  ongoing peer review of F&Y2 outputs, has included a review of the Annual Report of the Consumer Insights Tracker, and the Evaluation of vending guidance in Health and Social Care settings across Northern Ireland report.

ACSS 2023 Annual Report

The ACSS 2023 Annual report is now published.  

Annex A: SAC meetings and Key agenda items

Science Council 

Last open meeting: 15^th March 2024. Key points:

• A workshop for invited experts to agree the “50 key research questions on the future of food safety”.
• The questions have been included in the FSA research question list, which will be used to prioritise the contents of future ARIs and Research and Evidence programmes.

Next open meeting: March 2025  
 

Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP)

Last meeting: 17^th April 2024. Key points:

• The Committee explored the way forward for a number of ongoing applications. Committee Advice documents were cleared for 1 GM and 2 CBD applications for 98% purity CBD novel foods.
• The Committee also provided advice on how to complete the assessment for one traditional food (Baru nut) and 2 novel food with complex food safety risks (a microbe Akkermansia muciniphila and a corn protein isolate).
• The Committee also cleared the annual report for the Committee and its subgroups work in 2023.

Next open meeting: 17^th and 18^th September (London/Hybrid)

ACNFP Precision Breeding Workshop (16th ACNFP)

Last meeting: 1^st May 2024. Key points:

• The Committee peer reviewed an FSA-owned draft PB technical guidance by correspondence prior to the meeting, and discussed remaining technical difficulties identified by the Secretariat. Technical advice will be used to inform revisions, the accuracy of which will be cleared by Chair’s action.

PGT Subcommittee

Last meeting: 15^th May 2024. Key points:

• A new GM application (RP1962), part of another new GM application (RP1745), and answer from applicant for a request for further information for returning GM application RP307 were assessed; request for further information were sent to applicants. The Subcommittee provided technical input on outstanding questions on an FSA-owned draft precision breeding technical guidance and did some user testing using examples from the literature.

Next meeting: 17^th July 2024

CBD Subgroup

Last meeting: 22^nd May 2024. Key points:

• Members reviewed further datasets and updated datasets for 98% pure CBD novel foods. This has formed the basis for whether these applications can move forward for reviewed by ACNFP and development of an output.
• Members also considered a proprietary database designed by the Secretariat to standardise the entire collection of CBD applications.

Next meeting: 16^th July 2024 (CBD11 – Group A mop-up and THC)

Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF)

Last meeting: 8^th February 2024. Key topics included:

• AMR Working Group
• PATH-SAFE
• Kitchen Life 2

Next meeting: 19^th June

Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT)

Last meeting: 21^st May 2024. Key points:

• The Committee discussed a request for Committee Advice on the safety of the Application to modify the conditions of use of E401 (sodium alginate) for use as a surface treatment in entire fruits and vegetables. The committee received a presentation on Pinnatoxin- surveillance and exposure.
• The committee continued their work on a fifth draft statement on the safety of Titanium Dioxide (E171) as a Food Additive and a sixth draft interim position statement on bisphenol A and discussed an updated position paper on bamboo composites in food contact materials.      
• The committee also discussed a paper reviewing their ways of working 

Next meeting: 9^th July 2024

Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC) 

Last meeting: 21^st March 2024. Key points:

• Updating guidance statements
• Output of horizon scanning workshops
• Presentation on a revised strategy for the assessment of Chemical carcinogenicity

Next meeting(s): July 2024

The Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COM)

Last meeting: 29^th February. Key topics discussed: 

• Titanium dioxide
• QSAR guidance
• Lay summaries for COM website

Next meeting: June 2024 and October 2024

The Advisory Committee on Animal Feeding stuffs (ACAF)

Last meeting: 11^th June 2024. Key points:

• The Committee received a presentation on bioinformatics.
• Dossier for assessment RP1366 Econase XT – the application was reviewed, and the applicant will be asked to provide further information.
• Dossier for assessment RP1400 – the application was reviewed, and the applicant will be asked to provide further information.
• Dossier for assessment RP1460 Miya-Gold (Clostridium butyricum FERM BP-2789) – the application was reviewed, and the applicant will be asked to provide further information.
• Reviewed the RFI responses for RP1026/RP1027, RP1070, RP1317, RP1298, RP1512 and RP2059.
• The post-market monitoring report for RP140-141-142-284 was reviewed.
• Draft opinions were evaluated for RP812, RP814, RP1039/1040, RP1111 and RP1579. The members provided feedback on the content and finalised previous opinions.

Next meeting: 17^th July 2024

Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN)

Last meeting: June 2024. Key points:

• Due to restrictions of the pre-election period, the June 2024 SACN meeting was held in closed session. The meeting papers for what would have been the open session, will be published on SACN’s webpage after the election. The horizon scan elements of the meeting have been postponed until the autumn, when they can be held in open session.

Next meeting: TBC