Postlaunch Monitoring of Functional Foods - Methodology development (I)

Already for some years, the development of a Postlaunch Monitoring system for functional foods is on the research agenda of several stakeholders involved, e.g. the industries, the government, and research institutes. Up till now, proposals for such a system have been highly hypothetical and only limited experience has been gained through the performance of case studies. The Dutch government is interested in the development of Postlaunch Monitoring studies in cases of interference with the safety of the overall food supply. A PLM system could consist of the following phases: a) passive signalling of consumer complaints; b) active signalling of hazardous effects based on (pre- and post-market) research data; c) assessment of the relevance of the data from a and b; d) quantification of the hazardous effects on a population (group) level; e) balancing the beneficial (positive) and the hazardous (negative) effects, i.e. risk-benefit analyses and f) regulation. Investments in the organisational structure will be necessary to establish decision-making criteria for the different phases of PLM, expert committees for assessment, and methods and frameworks for data analyses, scenario building and modelling techniques. To support our efforts in realising a feasible, cost-effective PLM system we are also extending an invitation to all those involved in the PLM field to respond with suggestions