The approach was published as a proposal for nanospecific assessment in the food and feed sector under the NAMs4NANO project, funded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The review identified more than 260 individual NAMs, and highlights that some of them, even if promising, are still lagging regarding regulatory implementation. Very few NAMs are validated for chemicals and in the case of nanomaterials, most are still at the research level. Nonetheless, regulatory dossiers often use non-guideline data, and it is in this context that the NAMs4NANO qualification system was developed. The developed qualification system follows an "expert judgement" approach on the scientific validity of a specific method for a well-defined context of use.
