Advancing Exposure Assessment for Food Contaminants through Probabilistic Modeling
Creators: name: International, Sciences
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Life Sciences
subject: Other Food Science
subject: Food Science

description: This project is supported by the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS). Drawing on the peer reviewed literature and guidance of authoritative bodies, the investigators will assemble and catalog current guidance and recommendations on the use of probabilistic exposure assessment for chemicals in food. The investigators will augment this assembled guidance with additional guidance where needed to address the research questions described within. The primary research questions that will be addressed are: 1. To collect and review elements of guidance and available tools for probabilistic exposure assessments applicable to dietary exposure to chemicals. 2. To collect and review the evidence for the use of probabilistic exposure assessment by various regulatory authorities and the circumstances in which they are used and not used. 3. To collect, develop and justify guidance regarding assessment situations in which probabilistic exposure assessment is worth while and in which situations it might be considered critically important. 4. To collect, develop and justify elements of guidance that are specific to the appropriate treatment of specific subtasks within an exposure assessment such as the use of probability distributions for food consumptions amounts and frequency, the levels of chemicals in ingredients and foods, correlations between consumption and body weight and treatment of exposures at different life-stages (including women of child bearing age), gender-based differences in consumption and body weight, and differences associated with acute versus chronic exposures. 5. To develop and justify criteria to assist assessors in the selection and justification of choices of probability distributions and the choice of parameters. 6. To review, develop, and justify guidance on the description of a probabilistic exposure model and its inputs to enhance the understanding and confidence in the results among decision-makers and stakeholders. 7. To identify key barriers to further adoption of probabilistic approaches including a discussion of the continued validity of any barriers which may be based on limited knowledge or misconceptions including, where possible, to provide a rationale and examples to counter such misconceptions. Literature Search and Analysis The investigators will conduct a comprehensive search for relevant material published in English or French focusing on the peer-reviewed literature and official guidance documents of regulatory agencies with responsibility for chemical exposures that may occur in food. The review will begin with some of the more advanced and important regulatory agencies or authoritative bodies (US EPA, US FDA, USDA, UKFSA, EFSA, WHO/FAO, US National Academies, etc.) to enable assembly of leading elements of guidance early in the project. From each document the following information will be extracted: • The stated purpose of applying a probabilistic approach to an exposure assessment. • The stated conditions in which a probabilistic approach is particularly warranted. • The presence of guidance related to the research questions identified above. • Examples of the use of probabilistic exposure assessment by the agency in question. • Description of any limitations and or barriers to the use of probabilistic exposure assessment and any suggested solutions. • Recommendations for the use of any specific tools to conduct probabilistic exposure assessment. Assembly of Elements of Guidance Based on the extracted data from the literature and guidance document review, a unified recommendation will be developed representing the best of and the breadth of the available guidance with respect to the research questions described above. Where there is insufficient or incomplete guidance, the investigators will offer such guidance from their experience in teaching these methods to food safety professionals in public and private sectors.