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Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment (VKM)

VKM is Norway's independent scientific committee for risk assessment on food and environment, set up in 2004 and known until November 2017 as the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety (Vitenskapskomiteen for mattrygghet). Its members are appointed by the Ministry of Health and Care Services, its secretariat sits administratively within the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and it takes requests only from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) and the Norwegian Environment Agency, besides self-tasking. In the atlas it matters as the author of Norway's official chronic wasting disease (CWD) risk assessments: from the 2016 opinion on the unknown origin of Norwegian CWD, through the 2017 cull and fallowing advice for Nordfjella, to the 2021 opinion that judged the human risk very low, recommended monitoring human prion disease and noted that Norway has no systematic national autopsy activity for rapidly progressive dementia or CJD. It is also Norway's contact point for EFSA. Information only, not medical or veterinary advice.

Key facts

  • VKM was established in 2004 on risk analysis principles drawn from the Codex Alimentarius and EU food law, keeping risk assessment separate from risk management.
  • The committee is appointed by the Ministry of Health and Care Services; neither that ministry, other ministries, Mattilsynet nor the Environment Agency may interfere with its scientific work.
  • The Norwegian Institute of Public Health administers the secretariat but cannot instruct it; VKM has its own secretariat and budget.
  • VKM accepts risk assessment requests only from Mattilsynet and the Norwegian Environment Agency, and may self-task on topics it considers important.
  • The 2022 to 2026 committee had 123 researchers in 13 panels, appointed by the Ministry of Health and Care in consultation with the climate and environment, agriculture and food, and trade and fisheries ministries; the current about page gives 96 experts and a secretariat of 22.
  • The name was Vitenskapskomiteen for mattrygghet until November 2017; VKM is Norway's official contact point for EFSA and its director holds a permanent Norwegian seat on the EFSA Advisory Forum.
  • VKM Report 2016:26, requested by Mattilsynet and the Environment Agency after CWD was found in a wild reindeer and two moose in 2016, found the origin of Norwegian CWD could not be determined and that CWD may have circulated undetected for years; it said human transmission has never been documented but cannot be excluded, and recommended reducing human exposure.
  • VKM Report 2017:9, published 29 March 2017 at the joint request of the Environment Agency and Mattilsynet and approved by the Panel on Biological Hazards, said CWD would keep spreading without comprehensive measures and advised culling the Nordfjella wild reindeer population and leaving the area fallow for at least five years.
  • The same report found the moose CWD agent differs from the reindeer and North American agents and judged the risk to people from eating infected meat very low.
  • VKM Report 2017:26 (September 2017) reviewed newer data, including ape transmission results, and kept its view that the probability of transmission to humans is low; Statement 2018:01 found no need to revise its CWD conclusions after an EFSA assessment, which it judged consistent with its own.
  • VKM Report 2021:08, commissioned by Mattilsynet and published 1 June 2021, judged the risk of illness from handling or eating meat from CWD-infected deer very low and recommended limiting human exposure, reducing CWD prevalence in Norwegian cervids and monitoring prion disease in humans.
  • The 2021 report noted a lack of reliable data on sporadic human prion disease incidence in Norway and that no systematic national autopsy activity exists for rapidly progressive dementias and CJD.
  • The Norwegian Veterinary Institute said the 2017 cull recommendation matched its own earlier scientific opinion.

Timeline

  1. 2004VKM established.
  2. 2016Report 2016:26 on the unknown origin of CWD in Norway, commissioned 27 June and published 30 June.
  3. 2017Report 2017:9 published 29 March, recommending the Nordfjella cull and at least five years of fallowing.
  4. 2017Report 2017:26 published 29 September, human transmission probability still judged low.
  5. 2017Name changed from Vitenskapskomiteen for mattrygghet to Vitenskapskomiteen for mat og miljo.
  6. 2018Statement 2018:01 published 2 February, no need to revise CWD conclusions after the EFSA assessment.
  7. 2021Report 2021:08 on CWD and risk to humans published 1 June.
  8. 2022New committee announced for 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2026, 123 researchers in 13 panels.
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