# Presentation: 014060

## Major Components of FDA’s Action Plan for Acrylamide

**Richard Canady, PhD DABT**
**US Food and Drug Administration**
**Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition**
- _[www.cfsan.fda.gov](http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/)_

- Public meeting: September 30, 2002

## FDA assessment after press release by Sweden last April

- Preliminary FDA assessment using
- Swedish acrylamide occurrence data
- US consumption rates and
- Existing FDA dose-response evaluations developed for food contact issues
- Our preliminary assessment indicates
***Further action is needed***
- The hazard is not clearly below concern
- Our confidence in Swedish occurrence data is sufficient
*for decision that further action is needed*
- Our confidence in the toxicology is sufficient
*for decision that  further action is needed*

## Questions raised

- Are US foods likewise affected?
- What causes formation or occurrence?
- Are the risks sufficient to warrant changing food processing techniques or diet?

## Important to keep in mind

- Acrylamide has not suddenly appeared in food
- It appears to be a result of cooking, and so has probably been present in cooked foods for thousands of years
- What’s new is
*Detection of acrylamide in food, and *
*Knowledge that cooking can create acrylamide** *

## Overview of this presentation: Major components of the plan

- Testing foods
- Methods development
- Occurrence and exposure estimation
- Acrylamide Formation
- Toxicology
- Education
- Meetings and collaborative projects

**Notes:**
1 Where it is, how much we eat
2 How it gets there, what can we do
3 What is the hazard
4 What can we do about it now
5 Process

## Testing foods: 	General issues

- Are we using an appropriate method to test for acrylamide?
- What is the goal of the sampling?
- Exposure estimation (need occurrence information first)
- Help the formation research by describing variation related to
- Ingredients
- Processing
- Where to start and where to end?
- What foods contribute the most to exposure?
- What approach should have higher priority now?
- Exposure assessment leading to regulatory actions?
- Occurrence variation leading to process improvements?
- Find out where it is to be sure we don’t miss the big picture?

## 1. Testing foods:	Methods development

- CFSAN has developed an analytic method for acrylamide in foods
- LC/MS/MS = liquid chromatography, tandem mass spectrometry
- We have tested the method’s performance relative to other methods by other laboratories
***Performs very well***
- Formal inter-laboratory validation planned
- CFSAN will update the method as needed
- CFSAN will evaluate new methodologies for more rapid and less expensive detection of acrylamide in foods

**Notes:**
Method is posted on our website

## 1. Testing foods:	Sampling plan development

- Started with foods identified by Sweden
- To confirm occurrence
- We are now expanding the sampling set based on food chemistry and processing similarities, and we will
- Probe the scope of acrylamide occurrence in food
- To “diminishing return” (or mechanistic understanding)
- Need for exploration does not necessarily preclude taking action
- Include foods based on consumption rates
- Next, we will evaluate
- Variability within foods (products and food types)
- Exposure using Total Diet Study

**Notes:**
Does not mean we will wait to take action
Does mean that full understanding will need either mechanistic understanding or an end to finding new foods with acrylamide

## Testing foods:Overall level of sampling

- Occurrence
- ~600 food samples (about one quarter done)
- Exploring additional sampling needs (could add more)
- Does not count samples done for process evaluations
- Additional ~300 from National Food Processors Association?
- Available through JIFSAN clearinghouse
- Exposure estimation
- ~1000 samples planned for FY03

## 1. Testing foods: 	Occurrence

- FY02: Exploratory survey of locally purchased foods
- Confirmed occurrence in US foods
- Informed processing research and sampling scope for exposure estimates
- Roughly 150 foods so far analyzed, ***multiple analyses***
- FY03: Analysis of foods from across the country
- On the order of 400 more samples for survey work (possibly more, depending on interagency collaboration)
- National Food Processors Association has indicated they will do ~300 additional samples, made available through JIFSAN
- FY04, etc
- Sampling as needed

## 1. Testing foods: 	Exposure

- FY02: Exploratory survey of locally purchased foods
- We have confirmed the general level of exposure estimated by WHO/FAO in June
- FY03: Analysis of foods from across the country
- Start Total Diet Study (TDS)
- ~800 market basket samples
- ~200 additional targeted food samples to capture foods with highly variable acrylamide levels
- FY04, etc
- Exposure monitoring TDS will continue

## Total Diet Study component of FDA’s acrylamide action plan

- General purpose of TDS is to determine levels of various substances in an average national diet
- Involves analysis of foods representing all components of the diet
- The foods are prepared as eaten and then the acrylamide levels are determined
- Intake is estimated using national food intake surveys
- Focus is on the average diet for age and gender groups
- Part of an ongoing, well established dietary exposure program for contaminants

## Collection Sequencing for TDS

- 4 market baskets yearly, one from each region
- Foods collected in 3 cities per region
- Cities vary from year to year

## FDA’s Occurrence Data: Status

- Range similar to that reported previously (at WHO/FAO)
- Cooking time and temperature make a difference
- Still surveying occurrence
- Variability evaluation next
- Then sample for exposure (Total Diet Study, supplemented as needed)
- Not enough data to adequately explore exposure variability yet

## Recap: Testing for acrylamide

- FDA is collecting occurrence data to identify the scope and nature of the issue, and to inform process evaluations
- CFSAN will use Total Diet Study to assess exposure of US consumers to acrylamide from food
***This exposure information will help us evaluate the risk of acrylamide in food***

**Notes:**
---Analytical results from foods will also help us learn about mechanisms of formation, by identifying foods with high levels of acrylamide

## 2. Acrylamide formation: 	Research and outreach

- National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) and CFSAN are investigating:
- Mechanisms of acrylamide formation
- Processes for reducing formation
- NCFST is an FDA-Academia-Industry consortium
- FDA is working with the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) to foster
- Data needs discussions and data sharing relevant to formation mechanism and effects of processing
- FDA will interact with industry to:
- Conduct research on acrylamide formation and reduction
- Adapt processes that safely reduce acrylamide

**Notes:**
NCFST, an FDA-industry-academia consortium, will invesitgate  

## 3. Toxicology: 	State of Knowledge 

- Current situation is part of ongoing assessment of the knowledge base for acrylamide
- For prior decisions - EPA, IARC, WHO, EC, Australia, FDA
- Example: FDA food contact decisions
- Ten thousand-fold lower exposures than we now know about
- Decision is “use or don’t use”
- Our knowledge has changed with regard to
- How we are exposed
- Was thought to be primarily occupational or water exposures
- The levels to which we are exposed
***More toxicology data may be needed to make decisions under this newly discovered scenario.***

## FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) short-term studies

- Compare “bioavailability” of acrylamide in drinking water to that in the diet
- These studies should
***Clarify ******how much****** acrylamide is absorbed from food and ***
***Shed light on the significance of ******previous toxicology information***
- Identify DNA and protein “adducts” caused by acrylamide
- Adducts are reaction products between a chemical and either DNA or proteins
- Adducts can tell us
***How much exposure occurs and ***
***Help us understand the toxicology***
- Adducts may be particularly useful in relating animal toxicity studies to potential risks for humans from acrylamide

## FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) longer-term studies

- FDA plans to nominate acrylamide to the National Toxicology Program
- FDA will request subchronic toxicity studies, chronic carcinogenicity studies, and mechanistic studies
- NCTR will conduct these studies through interagency agreement with the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
- FDA will participate in all experimental protocol designs to assure regulatory needs are met

## 3. Toxicology: 	Evaluation of noncancer endpoints

- In addition to evaluation of cancer potential
- FDA will continue to evaluate non-cancer endpoints for acrylamide toxicity
- Germ cell mutation
- Neurotoxicity
- US Environmental Protection Agency’s chemical reference dose (RfD)
- based on peripheral neuropathy in rats

## 4. Education

- FDA will develop educational material to
- Inform and educate ***consumers and processors****** ***about the ***potential risks*** of acrylamide in foods
- And, as knowledge is gained,*** ******provide options*** on how to ***reduce the risks***
- FDA will solicit participation by stakeholders in the framing of the messages

**Notes:**
This information will take into account the need to balance other potential risk factors for consumers, such as the risk of microbial contamination with reductions in cooking time

## 5. Meetings and collaborative projects: FDA-sponsored

- Federal interagency roundtable, September 24, 2002
- Public meeting, September 30, 2002
- Food Advisory Committee and subcommittee meetings
- December 2002
- March 2003

**Notes:**
--Meeting of federal PH agencies involved in acrylamide research Participants include NCTR, EPA, CDC (including NIOSH), and NIEHSTopics include the results of the WHO consultation, plans for toxicology studies at NCTR, EPA’s reevaluation of its IRIS file on acrylamide, the potential use of biomarkers to monitor acrylamide exposure (CDC—subagency name like niosh available?), epidemiological studies and occupational exposures (NIOSH), and heritable mutagen assays (NIEHS)
--Today’s public meeting, as mentioned before, is an opportunity to get public comment, which we will take into account when revising the plan
--FDA will convene a meeting of the Subcomm on Contaminants and Natural Toxins of the Food Advisory Committee in early Dec FDA will prevent its draft action plan, revised based on comments from the public meeting

## 5. Meetings and collaborative projects: Consortia and symposia

- JIFSAN workshop,
- October 28-30, 2002, Chicago, Illinois
- Data needs and responses, for topics covered at WHO/FAO
- Emerging Issues in Neurotoxicology
- November 2002, Little Rock, Arkansas
- Neurotoxicity data needs
- Society for Risk Analysis
- December 2002, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Case-study for risk/benefit analysis

## 5. Meetings and collaborative projects: International

- WHO/FAO
- June 2002 WHO/FAO consultation
- JIFSAN clearinghouse
- JECFA meeting (tentative), early 2004
- Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, March 17-21, 2003, and in 2004
- European Union
- Inter-laboratory collaborative analysis project
- Results now available

**Notes:**
---We will then take the input from that plan and revise again, before taking the acrylamide issue to the full committee ( note to think about what our rationale is for going through two committee meetings other than the fact that we were trying to get a schedule that Crawford would approve
--already mentioned planned workshop on germ cell mutagens, for considering other noncancer endpoints for acrylamide
--Codex : FDA will seek to take the lead on Codex action on acrylamide in food
_--JECFA: FDA will participate in an assessment of acrylamide by the WHO/FAO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives tentatively planned for winter or spring 2004

## Recap: Overall Goal

- Through scientific investigation and risk management decision making,
- prevent and/or reduce potential risk of acrylamide in foods
- to the greatest extent feasible.

**Notes:**
Remind people about our projected outcomes

## Interagency meeting on acrylamide toxicity/biomarker research 

- Held September 24, 2002
- At FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
- College Park, MD

## Agencies participating

**Department of Health and Human Services**
**Food and Drug Administration**
- Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
- National Center for Toxicological Research
- Office of Regulatory Affairs
**National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences**
**Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)**
- National Center for Environmental Health
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
**Environmental Protection Agency**
**Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances **
**Office of Research and Development**
**Department of Agriculture**
**Food Safety Inspection Service **
**Agricultural Research Service**

## Topics addressed

- What research is needed to improve the risk characterization of acrylamide relevant to food exposures?
- What are the priority needs: what sequencing of research is needed?
- Identify any areas of overlap and potential coordination between the agencies or with outside parties (where such research efforts are known to exist) for planned research

## Additional goals of the meeting

- Identify and clarify the status of unpublished or ongoing research
- Identify key individuals for collaborations
- Start collaboration in support of FDA’s decision needs for acrylamide

## Multiple collaborations and potential synergies identified

- Ongoing NIOSH occupational studies
- Collaborations: biomarkers, reproductive endpoints
- Mechanistic studies in development
- Collaborations: biomarker analysis methods
- Mutation research
- Public health implications evaluation needed
- Biomarker analytical methods-development workgroup
- Overall workgroup to share expertise in the development of data

## Next steps

- Edit/finalize the outcome document
- Solicit more interaction/buy-in from the agencies
- Update the plan as appropriate
- Add specifics on research plans and collaborations
- Establish interagency workgroups to continue and aid the collaboration