The Food Safety Authority of Ireland represents Ireland on food safety issues in Europe.
Tá leagan Gaeilge den leathanach seo ar fáil anseo.
The Authority has regular contact with the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The FSAI consults on and assists in the development of well founded and effective European food law, taking into account the principles of better regulation.
European and national level activities are co-ordinated by EFSA by means of close co-operation through EFSA’s Advisory Forum, National Focal Point and Scientific Committees, Panels and Networks. This structure allows Member States and EFSA to work together to exchange scientific information and data, co-ordinate work programmes, pool resources and co-operate on joint projects.
EFSA News
One Health WGS System for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks
As part of the new Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/179, EU Member States will be required to collect and share analytical data in investigations of foodborne disease outbreaks. To support this, EFSA together with the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) created the 'One Health WGS System', a data analytics tool designed to gather and analyse whole-genome sequencing data.
The system consists of two interconnected platforms, one hosted by EFSA and the other by ECDC. These platforms independently collect genomic sequencing data from each sector (human health and food safety) and generate profiles for cross-sectoral analysis. This helps to identify foodborne disease outbreaks and supports real-time investigations of multi-country outbreaks.
A video released by EFSA showcases how WGS data are used to combat foodborne disease outbreaks and explains how the ‘One Health WGS system’ works.
For further information, see the topic page on EFSA's website.
Traineeship Programme 2025
EFSA's 2025 Traineeship Programme is now open for applications. The programme offers a 12-month traineeship based in EFSA's headquarters in Parma, Italy. It is aimed at aspiring professionals who want to gain experience in food safety while contributing to EFSA's mission.
Trainees will be assigned to a unit within EFSA where they will gain first-hand experience of working in an EU agency, contributing to the various projects and activities of that unit as part of an international team of scientists and business professionals. Trainees will be guided and coached by an advisor, and will join a Trainee Community where they can exchange experiences and build social networks.
Individuals from all academic and professional backgrounds are welcome to apply. For further information or to submit an application, see the vacancy notice.
Deadline for applications: 2nd April 2025.
EFSA Performance Evaluation 2017-2024
The European Commission is currently conducting a public consultation on EFSA Performance Evaluation 2017-2024. The consultation aims to collect evidence, meaningful information and expert opinion from stakeholders and the wider public to support an in-depth evaluation of EFSA in line with the Commission’s standard evaluation criteria. The public consultation will be followed by targeted surveys.
Participation to the public consultation is open via the European Commission "Have your Say" portal and it is available in all EU official languages. National risk assessment bodies, Member State competent authorities, relevant EU agencies, and organisations representing interested stakeholders (NGOs, academia, practitioner's associations, etc.) are encouraged to submit comments.
Deadline for submitting comments: 1 April 2025
Upcoming EFSA Events
Info session: Call for proposals to support EFSA in risk assessment of pesticides
- Date and time: 4 April 2025, 15:00 - 16:00 (CEST)
- Objective: Provide an overview of EFSA's mission in pesticide risk assessment, as well as the objectives of the call, eligibility criteria, application and evaluation process, and funding opportunities.
- Deadline for registration: 2 April 2025, 12:00 (CEST)
- Further information and registration
Workshop: Risk assessment of nanomaterials and materials containing small/nanoparticles in the food and feed chain
- Date and time: 11-12 June 2025, 09:00 - 18:00 (CET)
- Location: Brussels, Belgium
- Objective: Discuss the key technical and scientific issues in the risk assessment of nanomaterials and materials containing nanoparticles in the food and feed chain.
- Deadline for registration: TBC
- Further information
EFSA Grants and Procurement
EFSA regularly awards grants or subsidies for projects and activities that contribute to EFSA’s mission in the areas of data collection, preparatory work for scientific opinions, other scientific and technical assistance. Further information on EFSA Grants and EFSA Procurement.
Seconded National Experts Call 2025-2027
EFSA has launched a new call for Seconded National Experts (SNEs). As an SNE, professionals from national administrations will have the opportunity to contribute to EFSA’s work while gaining valuable expertise to bring back to their home institutions. The secondment is open to experts in various fields, from scientific risk assessment to communication and business support.
Interested professionals can read further information and apply via EFSA's website.
BfR World Food Safety Almanac
The online BfR World Food Safety Almanac provides an overview of the administrative structures of various countries in food and feed safety. It is well structured database that enables effective collaboration between organisations working in the field of food safety. Currently, there are profiles from 37 countries in the online World Food Safety Almanac.
EFSA newsletters
EFSA highlights is a free weekly e-newsletter featuring what’s new on the EFSA website.
EFSA's Understanding Science Video Clips
Understanding Science is EFSA’s scientific white board video series in which EFSA staff explain scientific concepts.