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Management Board endorses EFSA’s work plan and budget for 2010

The Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority has adopted EFSA's 2010 Management Plan. Guided by EFSA's 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, it outlines key projects scheduled for 2010 including the initiation of the "EU Menu", a pan-European food consumption survey, and a first annual report on emerging risks. The Board adopted the €73 million 2010 Budget required to address the growth and increasing breadth of EFSA's scientific work, in particular applications submitted for authorisation and new opportunities in data collection. The Board also endorsed a proposal to strengthen compensation for EFSA´s scientific experts.

EFSA will continue to bolster its cooperation with Member States to support its work and help reinforce capacity in risk assessment across the EU. Science contracts and grants will increase to € 7.9 million in 2010. In order to boost its work in identifying emerging risks, EFSA will reinforce its international network in 2010 in order to build on its platform for exchanging information and data.

EFSA's productivity has increased year-on-year. In 2009, EFSA will have issued nearly 700 scientific outputs, representing a 40 percent increase compared with 2008. The work is expected to grow, much of it due to applications submitted for authorisation in areas such as health claims, food and feed additives, packaging materials and pesticides.

The ability to collect and analyse data underpins all of EFSA's work as shown by the nine reports on food contamination and food-borne diseases published in 2009 alone. The Board supported EFSA's proposal to launch the "EU Menu", a Pan-European Food Consumption Survey that will provide comparable data on food consumption which can be used for risk assessment, and in the area of nutrition, to monitor intakes and help set science-based dietary targets. Data collection projects in the fields of contaminants and pesticides residues will also be carried out in 2010.

The Management Board endorsed a proposal to help ensure that some of Europe's best scientists will continue to find it attractive to take part in EFSA's scientific work. This included doubling the compensation of scientific experts for virtual meetings (e.g. those held through video, telephone or web conferencing) and aligning compensation offered to scientists for physical meetings with that recently adopted by the European Commission for its experts.

Board members also discussed key indicators to evaluate and assess the impact of EFSA and its specific scientific and communications outputs, including how its advice has been used in the EU legislative process.

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