Open AccessWeighing evidence and assessing uncertainties
Author(s) -
Dorne Jean Lou C. M.,
Bottex Bernard,
Merten Caroline,
Germini Andrea,
Georgiadis Nikolaos,
Aiassa Elisa,
Martino Laura,
Rhomberg Lorenz,
Clewell Harvey J.,
Greiner Matthias,
Suter Glenn W.,
Whelan Maurice,
Hart Andrew D. M.,
Knight Derek,
Agarwal Prabhat,
Younes Maged,
Alexander Jan,
Hardy Anthony R.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
efsa journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.076
H-Index - 97
ISSN - 1831-4732
DOI - 10.2903/j.efsa.2016.s0511
Subject(s) - breakout , multidisciplinary approach , risk analysis (engineering) , risk assessment , session (web analytics) , food safety , key (lock) , scientific evidence , computer science , management science , business , engineering , medicine , political science , philosophy , computer security , finance , pathology , epistemology , world wide web , law
Methodologies for integrating (weighing) evidence and assessing uncertainties are of utmost importance to ensure that scientific assessments are transparent, robust and fit for purpose to support decision‐makers. One of the key challenges remains the development of harmonised methodologies for both weighing scientific evidence and assessing uncertainties in the food safety area mainly because of the multidisciplinary and complex nature of the topics involved. The breakout session ‘Weighing evidence and assessing uncertainties’ was held at the EFSA 2nd Scientific Conference ‘Shaping the Future of Food Safety, Together’. This paper aims at summarising the contributions of this breakout session and formulates recommendations to further support the development of harmonised methodologies and practical applications for weighing evidence and analysing uncertainty in key areas of food safety, including chemical risk assessment, microbiological risk assessment and environmental risk assessment.