Future Outlook for ILSI Europe Gert W. Meijer, PhD Vice-President Nutrition & Health, Member, BoD ILSI Europe 1 Declaration of Interest Full-time employee of Unilever NV Other assignments: Member of the Extended Board of the European Nutrition Leadership Programme. Member of the Board of Directors, ILSI-Europe. Member of Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH) Advisory Group. 2 1
Declaration of Gratitude Nico van Belzen Reg Fletcher Paul Hepburn John O Brien However, 3 Why does Unilever (+ 58 other companies) make money and their scientific experts available for ISLI Europe? The current public health and industrial challenges in food safety and nutrition are too many and too complex for any one organisation to deal with by itself. ILSI Europe brings together scientific experts across the whole industry, academia, and governmental organizations to work proactively on such challenges, enabling the companies to make better informed decisions about what they are doing in the market place. 4 2
ILSI Europe Vision & Mission (Proposal) Vision: Be internationally recognised for transparently providing consensus-based nutrition and food safety science Mission: Bring together the expertise of the best scientists from private, academic and public sectors to provide the best informed scientific consensus on nutrition and food safety 5 ILSI Europe Goals ILSI Europe aims to Provide the platform to: Identify, address, and generate consensus-based scientific contributions to Critical scientific, typically non-regulated, issues related to nutrition, food safety and / or the environment, of public interest, of mutual concern to industry, government and academia. Publish the output of the scientific process transparently in peer-reviewed scientific journals for the broadest possible audience, To enable informed and responsible decisions that will be taken by the industry, the scientific community, governmental organisations, and international organisations. 6 3
ILSI Europe Provides a Tripartite Platform Applying state-of-the-art science to topics of common concern, their collaboration provides balanced, practical and high quality contributions to public health science. 7 Important Achievements of ILSI Europe over the last 25 Years Carbohydrates: advancing science related to the glycaemic response, the postprandial phase and dietary fibre for over a decade. Micronutrients: worldwide reach with the EURRECA (EURopean micronutrient REComendations Aligned) Network. Functional Foods / Health Claims: FUFOSE (Functional Food Science in Europe), PASSCLAIM (Process for the Assessment of Scientific Support for Claims on Foods). Water Initiative: Water and Sanitation Perspectives. Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC): a principle that refers to the possibility of establishing a human exposure threshold value for all chemicals, below which there is no significant risk to human health. Acrylamide Task Force: review on the risk assessment of acrylamide in food. Workshop in collaboration with the European Commission to review all available data required for risk assessment of 3-MCPD (3- monochloropropane-1,2-diol) esters. 8 4
Relevant Nutrition Developments Developments in nutrition science: New nutrients (e.g. 24 trace elements; only 6 trace elements have an RDA); New roles / benefits (of a nutrient or a non-nutrient); New (dietary) components (identified or developed); Interaction nutrient & genes ( Nutrigenomics ); Consequences of growing older: lower mobility (sarcopenia) lower energy needs; lower food intake (anorexia of ageing) frequent; lower efficiency of nutrient absorption; more illness; poor dentition; drug-nutrient interactions higher nutrient density required (nutrient fortification or supplementation). 9 Relevant Safety Developments Globalisation of the industry and risk assessment approaches; The impact of new biomics technologies on toxicology and risk assessment; Food allergies on the rise; Risk assessment of endocrine disruptors. 10 5
Relevant Environmental Developments Impact of climate change (esp. temperature and rainfall patterns) on crop growth and pathogen habitat range; Increasing complexities of the global food chain food security, safety, microbiology, adulteration and contamination; Sustainable water supply increasingly difficult. 11 Relevant Societal Developments Obesity epidemic is continuing; How to apply behavioural science to achieve the necessary behavioural changes (obesity, food waste, ); GMOs are not going to have a chance in Europe in the near future; Is there a future for nano technology?; Societal focus on sustainability may impact ingredient sourcing (shift from global to local sourcing) as well as dietary patterns (replacement of meat by dairy and vegetable proteins); Economic crisis increases incentives for fraud can we predict the next melamine?; Reduction/replacement/refining (3Rs) of animal use for product development and safety testing. This is already legally required for cosmetics, and might be introduced for food as well. 12 6
Relevant Regulatory Developments Validation of (bio)markers for diet-related health status is of crucial importance for public health and claims substantiation; Need to minimize pursuance of non-issues - not based on reality or science but on public misunderstanding of underlying science; Claims substantiated using true outcomes (such as disease) in Nutrition Intervention Studies could be perceived and evaluated as a medical claim, pushing a food into the drugs arena; European Nutrient Profiles develop towards increases in the thresholds of saturated fats, sodium, and sugar, moving away from sound nutrition science; Already approved claims can and will also be made on products that do not have a good fit with dietary recommendations; Brake on innovation of: Healthier products (claims can also be made on unhealthy products); New health benefits of existing / new ingredients (the investments are too high to get EFSA approval vis-à-vis already approved claims). 13 ILSI Europe is the Unique Platform to Address these Developments! The tripartite approach is steering towards dual alignment, within and between parties. 14 7
ILSI Europe Being Challenged 15 Future Outlook for ILSI Europe Many emerging topics in the area of public health and food safety that will benefit from the tripartite approach; ILSI Europe is uniquely placed and well equipped to enable this process; ILSI Europe needs to build on the heritage and experience that has been developed over the 25 years. ILSI has credibility this needs to be leveraged (communicated) more effectively; Need to focus on the strengths of ILSI Europe food safety and nutrition (no dilution into other industry sectors); ILSI Europe can assist other regions: e.g. food safety is a priority in emerging markets; Need to harness the international network of a global organisation. 16 8
Future Outlook for ILSI Europe It is more important than ever for food safety and nutrition scientists from Industry, Academia and Governmental bodies to understand the science related to their mutual issues. ILSI Europe is very well and uniquely placed as an important enabler for this to happen more effectively. 17 The Future is Thank You 18 9