The EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF), established in 1974, is the main committee providing the European Commission (EC) with scientific advice on food safety.[1][2] It is also known as the: EC Scientific Committee on Food.
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The SCF provides the European Commission (EC) with independent scientific advice[1] on issues of public health related to food consumption. The Commission is required to consult the SCF committee whenever is it legally obligated. However, the EC may also decide to consult the SCF on any other matter relating to food safety or consumer health, in conjunction with other committees. The SCF can also alert the Commission to any specific or emerging concern.
Most of the SCF's early activities concerned food additives,[1] but other issues have become increasingly important as the scope of EU legislation has expanded, including work with: flavourings, food contact materials, nutrition, contaminants, novel foods, food hygiene, and natural mineral waters.
The European Commission appoints various independent scientific experts, from across the European Union,[1] to serve as members of the SCF. The main role of the members is to give objective and authoritative advice, spanning a range of food-related issues. The Commission advertises all the posts for the SCF committee, as well as for its other scientific committees. These include experts in the fields of nutrition, toxicology, food hygiene, food technology, microbiology, biotechnology and molecular genetics. In December 1997, the SCF contained 17 members.
During each meeting, the SCF members are required to declare[1] if they have any commercial or other interests in the items being discussed. These declarations are later included in the minutes of each meeting, which are now publicly available on the Internet (see below: External links).
The SCF has established 8 working groups covering the following specialized areas: [1]
Each working group has a chairman as an SCF member who regularly reports back,[1] to the general SCF, about the working group's activities and conclusions. The membership of each working group is selected from among SCF members, then supplemented by ad hoc (specific) experts with appropriate expertise, who participate in some meetings, at the request of the European Commission.
After reviewing the Commission's handling of the BSE crisis,[1] the European Commission had restructured its committees, replacing some and creating new committees. All of these committees are now overseen by the Scientific Steering Committee (formerly the Multi-disciplinary Scientific Committee), which also handles some specific issues such as BSE. The responsibility for all of the advisory scientific committees was also transferred to DG XXIV, which deals with Consumer Policy and Consumer Health Protection. This transfer was made to preserve the independence of those committees, by separating the tasks of expert advice from the direct policy and legislative parts of the Commission.
The SCF's opinion papers (about the issues it has studied)[1] and the minutes of its meetings, can be obtained from the European Commission's Website at europa.eu.int (see below: External links). The opinions of the Scientific Committee on Food are also published by the EC publications office, as various reports in the series on Food Science and Techniques.