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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) carried out a public consultation to receive input from the scientific community and all interested parties on the draft guidance of the working group of the Scientific Committee 'Guidance Document on Scientific criteria for grouping chemicals into assessment groups for human risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals'. The background and the Terms of Reference were prepared by EFSA staff and the working group of the Scientific Committee was set up in 2019. The draft guidance was developed by the working group and endorsed by the Scientific Committee for public consultation at its plenary meeting of 17 April 2021. The written public consultation for this document was opened from 29 May to 10 July 2021. EFSA received responses from 12 interested parties (industry, industry associations, NGOs, consultancy companies, national scientific advisory bodies and individual scientists). EFSA and its Scientific Committee wish to thank all stakeholders for their contributions. In addition, EFSA organised an International Workshop on "Risk Assessment of Combined Exposure to Multiple Chemicals" on 18, 19 and 20 October 2021 to discuss specifically hazard‐based criteria and prioritisation methods from the guidance document as well future challenges in the area of risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals. This report presents the comments received from the public consultation and the international workshop and addressed after consideration by the working group of the Scientific Committee and by the Scientific Committee at its Plenary meeting of 17 November 2021. This publication is linked to the following EFSA Journal article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.7033/full [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuzemák, formerly called Tuzemský rum (domestic rum), is a traditional Czech alcoholic beverage which originated in Austria-Hungary as a cheap substitute for rum. It is produced by flavouring ethanol with rum ether, sugar and vanillin. In 2017 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a report on safety of rum ether which caused a stir in the Czech Republic. Conclusions of the study were misinterpreted in a series of articles in Czech newspapers and websites. Notion that ethyl formate is identical to rum ether was one of the erroneous information presented. Rum ether is a complex mixture of volatile substances obtained by distillation of the esterification products of pyroligneous acid (wood vinegar, a by-product of wood pyrolysis) and ethyl alcohol, under oxidative conditions in the presence of sulfuric acid and manganese dioxide. Ethanol, acetic acid and ethyl esters of acetic, formic and propionic acid are the major constituents of the rum ether. The Panel of EFSA experts concluded that some of the minor components of the rum ether (aliphatic alcohols, furan and its derivatives and α, β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds) are carcinogenic substances and might present health risk. The warning issued by EFSA means that safety of the rum ether should be proven by thorough toxicological testing. The key odorants of the rum differ from major components of the rum ether. The most active odorants in the rum are ethanol, carbonyl compounds (β-damascenone, 3-methylbutanal, diacetyl, vanillin), ethyl esters of higher aliphatic carboxylic acids, lactones, diethyl acetals of aldehydes and phenol derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrodia elata Blume (GE) has been used in traditional medicine as a sedative, an anti-convulsant and anti-epileptic drug. This study was performed to investigate antihyperglycemic effect of fermented- Gastrodia elata Blume (FGE) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic mice. FGE was prepared by fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisia. GE and FGE were orally administered at 20 or 100 mg/kg/day for 3 weeks to STZ (70 mg/kg)-induced diabetic mice. Administartion of FGE significantly reduced blood glucose levels in an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) compared to GE. In addition, FGE significantly decreased serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and at the same time markedly increased serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and plasma insulin levels. The results of this experimental study indicate that FGE possesses antihyperglycemic effect in STZ-induced diabetic mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) carried out a public consultation to receive input from the scientific community and all interested parties on the draft guidance of the working group of the Scientific Committee 'Harmonised risk assessment methodologies for human health, animal health and ecological risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals'. The background and the Terms of Reference were prepared by EFSA staff and the working group of the Scientific Committee and put out for initial public consultation in 2016. The draft guidance was developed by the working group and endorsed by the Scientific Committee for public consultation at its plenary meeting of 28 May 2018. The written public consultation for this document was opened from 27 June to 15 September 2018. EFSA received responses from 25 interested parties (industry, industry associations, NGOs, consultancy companies, national scientific advisory bodies and individual scientists). EFSA and its Scientific Committee Panel wish to thank all stakeholders for their contributions. This report presents the comments received and addressed after consideration by the working group of the Scientific Committee and discussion at the Scientific Committee Plenary meeting of 21 November 2018 and February 2019 This publication is linked to the following EFSA Journal article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5634/full This publication is linked to the following EFSA Supporting Publications article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/sp.efsa.2019.EN-1602/full [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]