Publications

@article{https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2020.e181110,

title = {Risk assessment related to food additives and food processing-derived chemical contaminants exposure for the Portuguese population},

author = {Maarja Kukk and Duarte Torres},

url = {https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2903/j.efsa.2020.e181110},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2020.e181110},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-01-01},

journal = {EFSA Journal},

volume = {18},

number = {S1},

pages = {e181110},

abstract = {Abstract The European Food Risk Assessment Fellowship Programme (EU-FORA) is an initiative by EFSA, aimed at building scientific capacity in food safety risk assessment in the EU. Current paper reports on the activities of this fellow, undertaken in participation of the third, 2019–2020 cycle of the EU-FORA programme while placed at the University of Porto, Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, in Portugal. The work programme offered by the hosting site was related to risk assessment on food additives and contaminants. The fellow's hands-on work consisted of two practical exercises, which aimed to assess the exposure to the 10 intense sweeteners authorised in the EU and a process contaminant, acrylamide, for the Portuguese general population.},

keywords = {acrylamide, dietary exposure, food additives, intense sweeteners, process contaminants},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.e170904,

title = {Influence of the geographical origin on substance concentrations in herring as basis for dietary exposure assessments},

author = {C Fechner and S Frantzen and O Lindtner and GH Mathisen and ITL Lillegaard},

url = {https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.e170904},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.e170904},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

journal = {EFSA Journal},

volume = {17},

number = {S2},

pages = {e170904},

abstract = {Abstract Previous investigations on agricultural products showed that geographical origin influences concentrations of selected undesirable substances and ultimately dietary exposure assessment. This could also be relevant for fish from different catching areas, as substance concentrations have been found to vary between catching areas. Herring was chosen as an example. Norwegian and German data on consumption and substance concentrations were considered. To investigate if concentrations of substances are different in Norway and Germany, monitoring data between 2012 and 2017 were used. Norway provided data of commercial catching areas from the Norwegian Spring Spawning (NSS) herring stock, while Germany had market data available. Concentrations of cadmium, mercury and selenium tended to be higher in herring from Norway, while lead concentrations were higher in Germany. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) and non-dioxin-like PCBs (NDL-PCBs) tended to have higher concentrations in Germany, while perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) were mostly below quantifiable levels in the two countries. These differences could be attributed to different herring stocks available on the market in Germany and Norway. Country-specific data on consumption and substance concentrations give a basis for a refined exposure assessment covering both the Norwegian and the German situation. This is of special importance if European risk assessments are carried out combining concentration data recorded in several countries without taking origin into account.},

keywords = {catching area, dietary exposure, fish, geographical origin, herring},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.e170905,

title = {Joint venture on the further development of chemical exposure assessment by use of probabilistic modelling},

author = {Christina Vlachou and Daniela Hofstädter},

url = {https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.e170905},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.e170905},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

journal = {EFSA Journal},

volume = {17},

number = {S2},

pages = {e170905},

abstract = {Abstract Exposure assessment is a fundamental component of the risk assessment process and has a significant contribution to the overall uncertainty of the risk estimates. The aim of the present project, implemented within the framework of the EU-FORA Fellowship, was to develop a structured approach for probabilistic modelling of the dietary exposure to chemical contaminants, which shall be used as a refined alternative to the more conservative deterministic approach or as part of a Tier 2 assessment. The fellow received training and worked in close cooperation with the project team on three case studies of contaminants in food (cadmium, acrylamide and deoxynivalenol). The modelling of the dietary intake was based on relevant EFSA Guidance and employed the Monte Carlo simulation methodology with the use of a standard software tool (Monte Carlo Risk Assessment (MCRA) platform) and/or a tailor-made risk model in the programming language R. The strengths and the limitations of every approach were explored and discussed. The conclusion from the critical comparison of the outputs was that the former can be a tool for the generation of fast preliminary estimates of the usual dietary exposure, whereas the latter may be used by the risk assessors as a more sophisticated, ‘state-of-the-art’ strategy, which will lead to more realistic estimates of the exposure. The outcomes of the project are being currently incorporated in a Guidance Document on probabilistic exposure assessment, which will highly contribute to more informed risk management decisions and to more effective risk communication.},

keywords = {dietary exposure, probabilistic modelling, risk assessment},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}