Harmonised collection of national food consumption data in Europe

Since 2005, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has worked in close cooperation with organisations operating in the field towards harmonising dietary survey methodology and building a common European Union (EU) food consumption database. Harmonised food consumption data are the basis for improving accuracy of EU-wide exposure assessments and also supports nutrition surveillance, diet and health related studies. Improved risk assessments assure more targeted risk management and permit more accurate risk communication resulting in increased consumer confidence. The most important step in this direction was the development of the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database, which compiles existing national dietary information from the Member States (MS). MS used different methods to collect food consumption data, which makes it difficult to carry out EU-wide analyses or country-to-country comparisons. Furthermore, as the consumption patterns are continuously changing, regular update of the available information is necessary. Therefore, in 2011 EFSA launched the “What’s on the Menu in Europe? - EU Menu” project, with the aim of providing financial and technical support to carry out national dietary surveys in the EU. It focuses on collecting data from six population groups (from three months to 74 years of age) using harmonised methods described in the EFSA Guidance on the EU Menu methodology that has been endorsed by the EU institutions through the EFSA Network on Food Consumption Data. EFSA is currently supporting 36 surveys on children and/or adults from 18 Member States and four pre-accession countries. All projects are expected to be finalised by 2023.