Work Plan of the Scientific Committee 2021-2025

The Work Plan of the Scientific Committee is a ‘living’ document that is subject to annual review and adjustment. The work items are laid out by functional area in priority order. The titles used and priorities given may be subject to change. Each work item will be further developed in a more detailed mandate document outlining the full request for advice.

Completed Scientific Advice

1. Vitamin D: Scientific Recommendations for 5 to 65 Year Olds Living in Ireland.

Adopted by the Scientific Committee on 23.09.22.

Biological Safety Mandates

1. Risk ranking of microbiological hazards^[1].
2. Assessment of the safety of probiotics in food supplements.
3. Advice on the foodborne risks to human health of Hepatitis E virus in pigs in Ireland and recommendations on measures for risk reduction.
4. Recommendations on measures to achieve risk reduction of Salmonellosis from Salmonella Typhimurium in Ireland.
5. A review of the science underpinning measures to prevent botulinum toxin formation by Clostridium botulinum and other Clostridia in food.
6. Advice on optimal source attribution approaches within the limitations of the Irish surveillance systems in human, foods and animals.
7. Risk assessment of Toxoplasma gondii in the Irish food chain.

Chemical Safety Mandates

1. Mitigation measures for dioxins and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in terrestrial farm animals with access to outdoor pastures.
2. Planning and implementation.
3. Review of the chemical safety risk ranking model^[2].

Public Health Nutrition Mandates

1. Scientific recommendations on food based dietary guidelines for adolescents.
2. Safety and appropriateness of foods directed to sports people.

Food Science and Technology Mandates

1. The suitability of analytical methods for food authenticity use.
2. The safety concerns associated with cannabis edibles.

Official Controls Mandates

1. Evaluation / exploration of food service hygiene rating schemes for Ireland.
2. Assessment of appropriate risk-based official control frequencies and development of semi quantitative (scoring) approaches for prioritisation of official controls.
3. Advice on the use of bioinformatic data from Whole Genome Sequencing and Next Generation Sequencing to improve risk assessment and better inform official controls and risk management actions taken to protect public health.