risk assessment - News - safefood Knowledge Network2024-03-29T12:05:56Zhttps://safefoodkn.ning.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/risk+assessmentUpdate of the risk assessment of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in foodhttps://safefoodkn.ning.com/profiles/blogs/update-of-the-risk-assessment-of-polybrominated-diphenyl-ethers-p2024-01-25T09:52:15.000Z2024-01-25T09:52:15.000Zsafefood Knowledge Network https://safefoodkn.ning.com/members/safefoodKnowledgeNetwork<div><p>The European Commission asked EFSA to update its 2011 risk assessment on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in food, focusing on 10 congeners: BDE‐28, ‐47, ‐49, ‐99, ‐100, ‐138, ‐153, ‐154, ‐183 and ‑209. The CONTAM Panel concluded that the neurodevelopmental effects on behaviour and reproductive/developmental effects are the critical effects in rodent studies. For four congeners (BDE‐47, ‐99, ‐153, ‐209) the Panel derived Reference Points, i.e. benchmark doses and corresponding lower 95% confidence limits (BMDLs), for endpoint‐specific benchmark responses. Since repeated exposure to PBDEs results in accumulation of these chemicals in the body, the Panel estimated the body burden at the BMDL in rodents, and the chronic intake that would lead to the same body burden in humans. For the remaining six congeners no studies were available to identify Reference Points. The Panel concluded that there is scientific basis for inclusion of all 10 congeners in a common assessment group and performed a combined risk assessment. The Panel concluded that the combined margin of exposure (MOET) approach was the most appropriate risk metric and applied a tiered approach to the risk characterisation. Over 84,000 analytical results for the 10 congeners in food were used to estimate the exposure across dietary surveys and age groups of the European population. The most important contributors to the chronic dietary Lower Bound exposure to PBDEs were meat and meat products and fish and seafood. Taking into account the uncertainties affecting the assessment, the Panel concluded that it is likely that current dietary exposure to PBDEs in the European population raises a health concern.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/8497" target="_blank">Continue reading</a></p></div>EFSA finds health risks from nitrosamines in foodhttps://safefoodkn.ning.com/profiles/blogs/efsa-finds-health-risks-from-nitrosamines-in-food2023-03-29T12:29:26.000Z2023-03-29T12:29:26.000Zsafefood Knowledge Network https://safefoodkn.ning.com/members/safefoodKnowledgeNetwork<div><p>There is a health risk from a group of compounds that can form in food during processing, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).</p>
<p>EFSA assessed the public health risk related to nitrosamines. Ten nitrosamines in food are carcinogenic, meaning they can cause cancer, and genotoxic, which means they may damage DNA.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/03/efsa-finds-health-risk-from-nitrosamines-in-food/" target="_blank">Continue reading</a></p></div>Risk Assessment of Food Allergens. Part 2: Review and establish threshold levels in foods for the priority allergenshttps://safefoodkn.ning.com/profiles/blogs/risk-assessment-of-food-allergens-part-2-review-and-establish-thr2023-01-04T09:56:19.000Z2023-01-04T09:56:19.000Zsafefood Knowledge Network https://safefoodkn.ning.com/members/safefoodKnowledgeNetwork<div><p>Abstract</p>
<p><br />Knowledge of thresholds constitutes a critical requirement to assessing the risk from allergens, as they are a characteristic of the hazard that allergens present to the food-allergic population.</p>
<p>FAO and WHO reconvened the Ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens for a second meeting to provide scientific advice on review and establish threshold levels in foods for the priority allergens.<br />The expert committee concurred that the benchmark dose/probabilistic hazard assessment approach aligned most closely with the requests of the Codex Committees. After extensive discussion, the expert committee reached a consensus on reference doses (RfD) for priority allergenic foods, meeting the criterion for HBGV that they should reflect a range of exposure without appreciable health risk.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.4060/cc2946en" target="_blank">Full report here</a></p></div>FSA publishes new research on the survival of coronavirus on food and packaginghttps://safefoodkn.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fsa-publishes-new-research-on-the-survival-of-coronavirus-on-food2022-11-30T14:27:16.000Z2022-11-30T14:27:16.000Zsafefood Knowledge Network https://safefoodkn.ning.com/members/safefoodKnowledgeNetwork<div><p>The research, conducted by the University of Southampton, was commissioned by the FSA following the publication of its risk assessment in 2020 which concluded it was very unlikely that humans could catch the virus from food. The study involved deliberately adding virus to the surface of food and packaging. It was not designed to consider the probability that food becomes contaminated under normal conditions, or the probability that virus on food will lead to infection.</p>
<p>The study’s results shows that the virus’s survival varied depending on the foods and food packaging examined. On some foods, such as cheese and ham, the virus survived for several days. On others, such as apples and olives, virus levels dropped quickly. For most food products tested there was a ‘significant drop’ in the levels of virus contamination over the first 24 hours. These findings confirm that the overall risk to consumers from coronavirus via food remains very low.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/fsa-publishes-new-research-on-the-survival-of-coronavirus-on-food-and-packaging" target="_blank">Continue reading</a></p></div>FAQ: Criteria for risk assessment of plants produced by targeted mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesishttps://safefoodkn.ning.com/profiles/blogs/faq-criteria-for-risk-assessment-of-plants-produced-by-targeted-m2022-11-18T11:06:54.000Z2022-11-18T11:06:54.000Zsafefood Knowledge Network https://safefoodkn.ning.com/members/safefoodKnowledgeNetwork<div><p>In a statement published today, EFSA’s scientists have proposed six main criteria to assist the risk assessment of plants produced using the genetic engineering techniques of targeted mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesis. The European Commission asked us for this scientific advice to support their ongoing policy initiative on new genomic techniques.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/faq-criteria-risk-assessment-plants-produced-targeted-mutagenesis-cisgenesis-and-intragenesis" target="_blank">Continue reading</a></p></div>