The Scientific Committee on Food (SCF), established in 1974, was the main committee providing the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

with scientific advice on

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a simi ...

. "Scientific Committee on Food - FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY" (overview), Gov.uk, February 2010, webpage:
-->facnews/issue2/page4.htm Gov.uk-maff
"Glossary: European Commission Scientific Committee on Food", Greenfacts.org, February 2010, webpage:

Its responsibilities have been transferred to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Purpose and scope

The SCF provided the European Commission with independent scientific advice on issues of

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

related to food consumption. The commission was required to consult the SCF in the cases laid down by EU legislation, but could also decide to consult it on any other matter relating to food safety or consumer health, in conjunction with other committees. The SCF could also alert the commission to any specific or emerging concern. Most of the SCF's early activities concerned

food additive Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives, such as vinegar ( pickling), salt ( salting), smoke ( smoking) and sugar ( crystallization), have been used f ...

s, but other issues became increasingly important as the scope of EU legislation expanded, including work with

flavouring A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive that is used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of ...

food contact materials Food contact materials or food contacting substances (FCS) are materials that are intended to be in contact with food. These can be things that are quite obvious like a glass or a can for soft drinks as well as machinery in a food factory or a ...

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

contaminants Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that renders something unsuitable, unfit or harmful for the physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination Within the scie ...

novel food A novel food is a type of food that does not have a significant history of consumption or is produced by a method that has not previously been used for food. Designer food Designer food is a type of novel food that has not existed on any regional ...

s, food hygiene, and natural mineral waters.

Membership in the SCF

The European Commission appointed various independent scientific experts, from across the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, to serve as members of the SCF. The main role of the members was to give objective and authoritative advice, spanning a range of food-related issues. The Commission advertised all the posts for the SCF committee, as well as for its other scientific committees. These included experts in the fields of

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...

, food hygiene,

food technology Food technology is a branch of food science that addresses the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of food products. It may also be understood as the science of ensuring that a society is food secure and ha ...

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

and

molecular genetics Molecular genetics is a branch of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the st ...

. In December 1997, the SCF had 17 members. During each meeting, the SCF members were required to declare if they had any commercial or other interests in the items being discussed. These declarations were later included in the minutes of each meeting, which are now publicly available on the Internet (see below: External links).

SCF Working Groups

The SCF established 8 working groups covering the following specialized areas: :* Additives :* Contaminants :* Flavourings :* Food contact materials :* Food hygiene and microbiology :* Intake and exposure :* Novel foods and processes :* Nutrition and dietetic foods Each working group was chaired by an SCF member who regularly reported back to the SCF about the working group's activities and conclusions. The membership of each working group was selected from among SCF members, then supplemented by

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

(specific) experts with appropriate expertise, who participated in some meetings, at the request of the European Commission.

Specific activities

After reviewing its handling of the BSE crisis, the European Commission restructured its committees, replacing some and creating new committees. All of these committees were then overseen by the Scientific Steering Committee (formerly the Multi-disciplinary Scientific Committee), which also handled some specific issues such as BSE. The responsibility for all of the advisory scientific committees was also transferred to DG XXIV, which dealt 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 had studied) and the minutes of its meetings, can be obtained from the European Commission's website at ec.europa.eu (see below: External links). The opinions of the Scientific Committee on Food were also published by the

Publications Office of the European Union The Publications Office of the European Union is the official provider of publishing services and data, information and knowledge management services to all EU institutions, bodies and agencies. This makes it the central point of access to EU law ...

, as various reports in the series on ''Food Science and Techniques''.

References

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External links

Scientific Committee on Food – Archive
(English). European Commission European Union health policy Food chemistry organizations Food safety organizations Scientific organizations established in 1974