Updated list of QPS-recommended microorganisms for safety risk assessments carried out by EFSA

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) asked the Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) to deliver a scientific Opinion on the maintenance of the list of qualified presumption of safety (QPS) biological agents. The QPS approach was developed by the EFSA Scientific Committee to provide a harmonised generic pre-evaluation to support safety risk assessments of biological agents intentionally introduced into the food and feed chain, in support of the concerned scientific Panels and Units in the frame of market authorisations. The taxonomic identity, body of knowledge, the safety concerns in relation to pathogenicity and virulence, and the safety for the environment of those microbiological agents are assessed.…