EFSA's scientific advice helps to protect consumers,
animals and the environment from food-related risks.
EFSA cannot produce this advice without the data it receives from outside organisations.
At EFSA there are no laboratories and we do not analyse food samples
so we encourage all organisations who have data to share it with us.
Information on sending data to EFSA
is available on the EFSA website or you can contact us for help.
Data sent to EFSA needs to conform to a standardised structure.
At EFSA, this is known as standard sample description, SSD.
EFSA has created tools to help you input your data in SSD.
Guidance on using our tools is available on EFSA’s Knowledge Junction platform.
These tools create the file from your data that you send to EFSA’s data submission platform,
the “data collection framework”, DCF.
You need to code the data according to the EFSA catalogue of terms
which you can find in the EFSA Catalogue Browser.
The main menu contains all the drop-down options
that allow interaction between the software and the catalogues.
The catalogue name is shown here.
The ‘filter group’ can be used for filtering specific data inside the catalogue.
The search panel allows you to search terms in the catalogue.
The tree term panel displays all the terms of the catalogue
following a hierarchical tree view structure.
A user guide for the catalogue browser is available from the EFSA online library.
When you are sending data to EFSA you need to use the correct codes.
For example, if you identify ‘Aflatoxin B1’, as the contaminant,
you cannot use the term ‘Aflatoxin B1’,
rather you have to use its corresponding code.
You can find the correct code in the catalogue.
If the aflatoxin was identified in maize germ, you cannot use this term,
instead you should use the code for maize germ which is ‘A016K’.
You can find the correct code in the catalogue.
To send your data to EFSA’s Data Collection Framework you need an account.
To create an account, you need to contact EFSA.
After we send you your account details, you can login to the DCF.
Navigate to the data collection or your organisation,
click on datasets,
insert new dataset,
browse,
then select the xml file to be uploaded,
click send,
you should see that your file has been successfully uploaded.
You will receive an email indicating the status of your data submission.
If the status is ‘Valid’ or ‘Valid with Warning’
your dataset has passed the DCF validation check.
However, if the email says the dataset has been ‘Rejected Editable’ or ‘Rejected’
you will need to correct your data.
It is not unusual to have a submission rejected.
In the DCF, click the box next to your dataset that is ‘Rejected Editable’ or ‘Rejected’.
To understand what you need to correct click on ‘ack view’
to see a summary of the errors,
or ‘ack details’ to see a detailed breakdown of the errors to correct.
Go back to your data file, make the corrections,
recreate a new file and resend to the DCF.
Contact our team at EFSA if you need help correcting your file.
A user guide for the Data Collection Framework
is available to download in pdf.
If you require further assistance,
please contact us at: data.collection@efsa.europa.eu