🍎 The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) adopted its Management Board meeting on 24 June 2021 strategy by 2027. This document, revised in 2024, represents a response EFSA to the rapidly changing environment in which the Authority operates. The strategy builds on previous documents, but comes at a historic moment for EFSA and all those concerned with food safety, security and sustainability.

The main factors influencing the new strategy include the change to the General Food Regulation, the so-called transparency regulation, which entered into force in 2021. This regulation brings new responsibilities to EFSA, but also opportunities and more resources. Another key element is the implementation of the EU strategy "from farm to fork" (Farm to Fork), which is part of the European Green Deal and will significantly impact EFSA's work. The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is also having an impact, requiring adaptation to new ways of working. In addition, EFSA faces challenges such as rising populism, declining trust in institutions and science, digitalisation and the need to respond to new technologies and growing volumes of data.

EFSA's mission – to contribute to the safety of the EU food chain by providing scientific advice to risk managers, communicating risks to the public and cooperating with Member States and other parties to maintain a coherent and credible food safety system in the EU – remains unchanged since the establishment of the Authority in 2002. Vision is safe food and sustainable food systems through transparent, independent and credible scientific advice.

Strategy 2027 focuses on three main strategic goals:

1. Provide trusted scientific advice and risk communication from farm to fork. This objective relates to EFSA’s core business – assessing and communicating risks to human, animal and plant health and the environment. EFSA will focus on improving the quality and relevance of its scientific advice and communication through transparent processes, partnerships with Member States and other EU agencies, and dialogue with stakeholders and the public. The implementation of measures from the new Transparency Regulation, such as the notification of studies and preliminary advice, will be key. Communication will emphasise an ‘audience-centred approach’.
2. Ensure readiness for future risk analysis needs. This objective focuses on developing EFSA's core capabilities (knowledge, expertise, methodologies and data). Emphasis is placed on strengthened partnerships within the food safety knowledge ecosystem and on identifying priority areas for knowledge sharing and development. EFSA will work to improve a harmonised risk assessment culture at EU level, to strengthen crisis preparedness and identification of emerging risks (e.g. through the interconnection of early warning systems) and to improve scientific methodologies, including the 'one health - one environment' approach. The strategy also includes exploring the use of artificial intelligence and related technologies for risk assessment.
3. Empower employees and ensure organizational agilityThis objective concerns the management and support of EFSA's operations. It focuses on attracting and developing talent, improving the efficiency and user satisfaction of internal services, and ensuring alignment with overarching EU strategies through strengthened institutional partnerships.

EFSA's 2027 Strategy is guided by core values that underpin all its activities: Excellence, Independence, Openness, Responsibility a CooperationCollaboration, deeply rooted in the way EFSA works, is now being taken to a new level – creating value through partnerships within the the EU food safety ecosystemThis collaborative effort is at the heart of the 2027 strategy. Achieving these objectives should lead to ensuring public health, taking into account the environment and animal and plant health, and maintaining confidence in the food safety system, which guarantees a high level of protection of human health and consumer interests. Spring

Glossary of key terms

• Regular science: Transdisciplinary scientific information, including risk/safety assessments, methods, tools, models and scientific advice, to support sound and transparent science-based policies.
• Expected impacts: The value that EFSA provides to wider society through the policies and risk management decisions supported by its work, such as ensuring the protection of public health and maintaining trust in the food safety system.
• Strategic goals: Three main objectives that shape EFSA's overall objective for 2027, designed to guide its work in relation to challenges and opportunities.
• Expected results: The value that EFSA provides to its target audiences (customers, stakeholders, citizens) by addressing their needs and problems.
• Expected Operating Results (EORs): The value of EFSA's services and products to target audiences, which can be measured objectively or subjectively. It describes EFSA's activities that create the proposed value.
• Transparency Regulation: The EU Regulation (2019/1381) on the transparency and sustainability of EU risk assessment in the food chain, which entered into force in 2021, is intended to increase transparency and trust in EFSA.
• Farm to Table (F2F) Strategy: A key component of the European Green Deal aimed at improving the sustainability of the European food system and protecting the health of people, animals, plants and the environment.
• Food safety knowledge ecosystem: A concept emphasizing cooperation and sharing of knowledge, expertise and data between EFSA, Member States, EU agencies and international organizations to ensure safe food.
• One Health – One Environment Approach: A comprehensive approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health, requiring transdisciplinary and transnational collaboration.
• NAM (New Approach Methodologies): New approaches and methodologies, including 'omics' and in silico tools (bio- and chemoinformatics), are being developed to improve regulatory risk assessment, often with the aim of minimising animal testing.
• Horizon Europe: The EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programme, to which EFSA contributes by identifying priority topics for co-funded research to strengthen scientific evidence for risk assessment.