The role of the microbiome in human and animal health is one of the most rapidly advancing areas within life sciences, with growing relevance for food and feed safety risk assessment. Microbiome-related considerations are already emerging in current safety assessments for example in the areas of pesticides, novel foods or food and feed additives, and regulatory applications directly involving complex microbial community products are expected in the near future. Despite these developments, the methodological tools, evidence standards and regulatory science frameworks needed to systematically incorporate microbiome data into the risk assessment remain scarse and difficult to implement. Existing guidance was not developed with microbiome endpoints in mind, and risk assessors currently lack the methods and data that would enable to address microbiome-related questions consistently and robustly.

EFSA and the broader regulatory science community have made significant investments in mapping these gaps and have collectively documented where the science is insufficient for regulatory purposes. The 2026 Scientific Colloquium on Microbiomes builds on this foundation, starting from the documented gaps and exploring what actions are needed to address them, in what order and by whom.

The colloquium addresses two domains where microbiome-related regulatory science challenges are most pressing within food and feed domains. The first is the assessment of chemicals such as pesticides, food and feed additives, and contaminants where the gut microbiome may both be a target of chemical-induced effects with consequences for host health and may also play a role in modulating chemical exposure through biotransformation. The second is the safety assessment of biological and microbiome-based products such as complex microbial feed additives and next-generation probiotic products, where the product itself intentionally aims to modulate the host microbiome and where current assessment frameworks may be insufficient. Both domains are addressed from a human and animal health perspective. The environmental microbiome such as soil, aquatic and other environmental microbial communities, is not addressed in this colloquium. EFSA intends to address environmental microbiome assessments in a subsequent dedicated initiative.

The colloquium is co-organised by EFSA and INRAE, with the French organisation also co-coordinating the World Microbiome Partnership, reflecting the importance of international collaboration in advancing microbiome regulatory science.

The overarching objective of the colloquium is to assess the maturity of available microbiome science relative to regulatory risk assessment needs, and to define what actions are required to bridge the gap between existing scientific knowledge and its use in food and feed safety risk assessments.

The colloquium is designed to produce three specific outputs:

• Output 1 — A structured maturity assessment for each domain addressed, distinguishing what is approaching sufficient regulatory science readiness, what requires further development and tailoring for risk assessment integration, and what requires longer-term research investment.
• Output 2 — A set of priority regulatory science actions, structured around three specific questions: what adversity criteria and evidence standards are needed before microbiome endpoints can be incorporated into regulatory decisions; what methods, data and reporting standards must be established for regulatory submissions involving microbiome data; and whether and how existing regulatory tools can be adapted to integrate microbiome-related endpoints.
• Output 3 — A gap-closing action plan identifying who does what and when, distinguishing what falls within EFSA's and partners' direct regulatory science remit, what requires international coordination, and what requires longer-term research investment that regulatory science organisations should advocate for.

Following the opening plenary session where introductory presentations will be shared, participants will break into four parallel discussion groups addressing specific domains:

Break-out Group 1 | Chemicals and the Microbiome — Human Health Risk Assessment

Break-out Group 2 | Chemicals and the Microbiome — Animal Health Risk Assessment

Break-out Group 3 | Biological and Microbiome Products — Human Health Risk Assessment

Break-out Group 4 | Biological and Microbiome Products — Animal Health Risk Assessment

The outcome of the discussion groups will be presented in a final plenary moderated panel discussion on Day 2, designed to formulate the conclusions of the event. EFSA will issue a short report collecting and summarising the discussions following the event which will be published together with the presentations shared at the event.

The event is intended for scientists, regulatory experts and other stakeholders with expertise at the interface of microbiome science and risk assessment Participation is limited to a maximum of 120 participants, including speakers and other experts already identified by EFSA and co-organisers. Given the colloquium's focus on producing actionable regulatory science outputs, participation is specifically sought from experts who combine scientific knowledge of microbiomes with experience or familiarity of risk assessment processes. Academic researchers with strong connections to regulatory science questions are also welcome. Representatives of national competent authorities, international organisations, research institutions and industry are all encouraged to apply. A selection process will ensure sufficient representation of relevant fields of expertise, stakeholder groups and geographical balance.

The registration form can be found at link

Please note that registration may close once the maximum number of participants is reached or, at the latest, by 14 September 2026 at 12.00 CEST. After closure of registration, applicants will be informed whether they have been selected for participation.

The event will be held in person in Brussels, Belgium on 23-24 November 2026 (Day 1: 09:00–18:00 CET; Day 2: 09:00–13:00 CET). English will be the language of the event, and no interpretation will be provided.

Online participation is not foreseen — please register for this event only if you are able to attend in person.

There is no fee for participation, however participants are responsible for covering their own expenses related to travel and accommodation. Further organisational details will be communicated to selected participants.

Do not hesitate to contact the organising committee at scientific.colloquia@efsa.europa.eu for more information.

Draft Programme

Öffentliche Veranstaltung mit der Möglichkeit, Fragen an die Experten*innen zu stellen

Plastik enthält Zusatzstoffe, die sich während der Nutzung aus Produkten wie beispielsweise Spielzeug, Funktionskleidung oder Lebensmittelverpackungen lösen können. Dadurch gelangen sie in die Umwelt und in den menschlichen Körper.

Erfahren Sie, was die aktuelle Wissenschaft zu Exposition und potenziellen Gefahren sagt und stellen Sie Ihre Fragen direkt an die Experten*innen:

• Dr. Jane Muncke, Food Packaging Forum
• Stephanie Eitner, Empa / ETH Zürich
• Dr. Elias Zimmermann, Empa

Der Eintritt ist frei. Es wird um eine Anmeldung gebeten. 

The Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology (SCAHT) is organising a hands-on ToxMCP workshop on 6 November 2026 in Basel, led by Ivo Djidrovski (in4R.ai, Utrecht University).

Participants will learn how an AI assistant can connect to public toxicology sources through ToxMCP, and gather, organise and review evidence in a guided case study, while learning to recognise the limits of AI supported outputs and where expert judgement remains essential.

Date: 6 November 2026, 09:00–12:00

Format: In person, Basel Pharmacenter

Lead: Ivo Djidrovski (in4R.ai, Utrecht University)

Audience: Toxicologists, risk assessors, regulatory scientists, computational scientists and students. No programming/AI experience required.

Capacity: Limited to 30 participants, advance registration required.

Participants will need their own laptop with admin rights, a desktop version of a large language model with an active paid subscription, and a free US EPA CTX API key ( to be requested in advance). A limited number of one month subscriptions might be available for students who cannot cover the cost themselves.

Registration link

Preliminary Program (version from September 8th, 2026)

Validation is the biggest hurdle for New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) becoming real tools in risk assessment — not developing them, but proving they work well enough to be trusted and used.

On 20th of October, the Swiss 3R Competence Center is bringing together researchers, industry, regulators and policymakers in Bern to look at that journey directly: from early scientific foundations through to regulatory acceptance, using real case studies of NAMs at different stages of validation.

NEWS: Call for research projects in applied human toxicology now open
Interested researchers can submit their pre-proposals until 15 October 2026

The Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology today launched the preparation of its 2029 – 2032 research program.

The SCAHT aims at establishing two Swiss regulatory toxicology flagship projects, demonstrating how human-relevant New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), mechanistic biomarkers, and integrated kinetics can support Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA). To this end, Swiss research groups are invited to develop proposals for two independent integrated collaborative research projects focusing on the assessment of chemicals adversely affecting i) female reproductive health and ii) the central nervous system. For each area, one project will be funded.

i) Female reproductive health embraces the whole female reproductive life cycle from germ cell development up to successful pregnancy including placenta development and function. Proposals might focus on toxicity of compounds on any stage/process within this life cycle.

ii) Neurotoxicity should focus on the chemicals’ contributions to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Human disease relevance must be in focus for both topics.

SCAHT funding for integrated projects is CHF 650,000 – 800,000 per year for a duration of 4 years per project. Due to the nature of SCAHT funding, successful projects are expected to be co-funded through in-kind contributions (for details please refer to the call document).

Each proposed project must be a collaborative initiative involving a project lead who is employed at least for the duration of the funding period by one of the current SCAHT member higher education institutions, i.e. the University of Basel, the University of Geneva, the University of Lausanne or the FHNW School of Life Sciences, together with multiple research groups from Swiss institutions. The proposals should clearly demonstrate how the collaboration creates added value by combining complementary expertise, technical skills and infrastructure thereby generating scientific synergies that could not be achieved by individual groups alone.

The two funded projects will be selected in a two-stage process. We ask researchers to submit project pre-proposals per email to the attention of Stéphanie Boudon (stephanie.boudon@scaht.org), using the application form until 15 October 2026.

Detailed information on the requirements for participation and the submission and selection procedures is available in the call document.

SCAHT Contacts:

Questions about the funding program:

Stéphanie Boudon, Research and Education Coordinator; +41 61 207 19 59; stephanie.boudon@scaht.org

Link to the pre-proposal template

Link to the call for proposal document

We are pleased to announce the 5th EFSA Conference, marking 25 years of EFSA and the launch of the new Strategy 2034 (2028–2034). The event will bring together the food safety community to explore key themes, including innovation and competitiveness, sustainability and One Health, preparedness and rapid response, risk communication, and digitalisation. 

Registration will open in January 2027, with the official countdown on EFSA's website launching in September 2026. Further information on the programme and participation will be shared in due course.

EFSA is pleased to join the programme of the third edition of the Contract Research Organisation (CRO) Days, organised by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The event will bring together laboratory and regulatory experts to exchange views on challenges in toxicological studies, offering a valuable opportunity for CROs to engage with both agencies.

We will hold this year’s conference on the Action Plan for Plant Protection Products on Friday, September 4, 2026, at Campus Liebefeld, Bern.

Please register via this link by August 21.

Join the BfR - University of Potsdam online meeting for the experts' insights and perspectives into why genotoxicity will remain high on the regulatory agenda and what it takes to communicate effectively to consumers. This event is part of the ILMERAC Expert Dialogue Online Event Series aimed at bringing together leading experts from across the globe to enable the exchange of best practices in regulatory risk assessment. 

Registration deadline: September 14, 2026

To register for the event, please contact the ILMERAC team at ILMERAC@bfr.bund.de.

EFSA and ECHA will host an onsite workshop to discuss the implementation of the European Commission’s roadmap for phasing out animal testing in pesticides and biocides. Participants will exchange views on proposals and approaches to advance risk assessment in this area.

Further information on the programme and registration will be published in due course via the link below.