EFSA publishes guidance for harmonised default values
9 March 2012 / Europe
The European Food Safety Authority’s Scientific Committee has published guidance for harmonised default values to be used in EFSA’s risk assessments when insufficient or no actual measured data exist.
The authority says default values used in risk assessments should always be scientifically justified and be based on existing data representing average or typical values for the missing information. The guidance focuses on the most commonly used default values by EFSA’s Scientific Panels, Scientific Committee and Units. It identifies harmonised default values for body weight, total liquid intake, a number of uncertainty factors used in establishing health-based guidance values, and factors for converting chemical substance concentrations in feed or drinking water to doses utilised in experimental animal studies to assess toxicity of the substances.