The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published guidelines for reporting whole genome sequencing (WGS)-based typing data through the EFSA One Health WGS System. The guidelines include information about the EFSA One Health WGS System, such as its design, its users and their relative data visibility, and its rules on data ownership and intellectual property. The guidelines also describe the types and formats of data that can be submitted to the EFSA One Health WGS System, as well as the required steps of the reporting procedure.
The EFSA One Health WGS System was developed in response to a 2019 European Commission (EC) mandate that directed EFSA and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to implement and manage two interoperable systems for WGS data collection and analysis. The EC mandate specifically cited the need for WGS data for human and nonhuman isolates of Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, and Escherichia coli, including Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC).