Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Contact us Unilever Global Search Unilever About Brands Sustainable Living News Careers Investor Relations SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT Product & ingredient safety Safety and environment Science & technology Consumer safety Occupational safety Environmental safety Environmental sustainability Home About Safety & environment Consumer safety Consumer safety Ensuring Unilever products are safe for our consumers to use. SEAC uses the latest science and technology, constantly embracing new scientific developments and working with the best scientists globally. We publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals, and regularly present our research at international conferences. Some examples where we are applying our consumer safety capability are given below. Microbiology risk assessment Downloads Household Water Treatment Systems: Applying a risk-based approach for the development of microbiological-reduction criteria PDF | 837KB Applying the Skin Sensitization AOP to Human Health Risk Assessment PDF | 2MB TT21C: Presentations and Posters ALTOX: 21st Century Safety Science and Non-Animal Approaches at Unilever We conduct risk assessments to assure the microbiological safety of our products and technologies. One area where risk assessments have been extensively applied is for the provision of safe drinking water by in-home microbiological water-treatment systems. These systems help reduce exposure to contaminated water, particularly in developing countries where many people rely on boiling or bottled water. Unilever is working to provide affordable, safe and sustainable solutions, under the Pureit and Qinyuan brands. SEAC’s risk assessments ensure that the waterborne hazards (bacteria, viruses and protozoa) are removed or reduced to safe levels. The team collaborates with external experts to evolve our capabilities for the application of novel technologies in drinking water treatment. Toxicological risk assessment: Threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) TTC is a structured decision-tree approach for assessing the risk from ingredients and contaminants in products where consumer exposure is very low, allowing us to avoid unnecessary testing. Based on chemical structure, a tiered system of scientifically justified TTC levels has been developed; human exposure to a chemical at or below this level can be supported. The approach is accepted by regulatory bodies such as the US Food and Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority. TTC is one of the tools we use to support the safety of ingredients such as some flavour components in food and some colours in personal care and homecare products. Toxicology risk assessment: Food allergy We want our food products to be safe for all consumers, including those with allergies. In addition to labelling products properly, we recognise that allergic consumers deserve choice. We want to avoid using “may contain” statements except where the product could pose a risk to people with a food allergy. We collaborate with allergy specialists to understand “how much is too much?”, so that we can refine our production processes to achieve levels that do not pose a risk and keep the number of products with “may contain” labels to a minimum. We also work closely with food safety authorities and patient groups to understand better how to clearly communicate allergen-related risks. SEAC workshops Antimicrobial resistance associated with microbicide use in consumer products: Development of a risk assessment framework In June 2012, a workshop was held at Unilever’s R&D Centre at Colworth Park (UK) to propose a risk assessment framework for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) development associated with the use of microbicides in consumer products. Participants discussed perspectives on existing approaches to microbial risk assessment and their potential application to evaluate AMR risks. Breakout groups discussed current scientific understanding in microbicide resistance and cross-resistance to other antimicrobials, and identified factors impacting the likelihood of resistance development under realistic conditions of use of consumer products. Workshop participants gained a good insight into approaches for interpretation of existing data and methods for measuring resistance that are representative of realistic scenarios. The output from this workshop has been published [Maillard et al. (2013) Microbial Drug Resistance, 19: 344-54]. The future of toxicology - 21st century safety sciences In November 2013, an education programme organised by SEAC was held in Guangzhou, China at the 6th Chinese National Toxicology Congress. We introduced a significant number of scientists within the Chinese Society of Toxicology (C-SOT) to new concepts (non-animal approaches) in toxicology testing in the 21st century (TT21C). SEAC scientists are actively developing TT21C approaches in collaboration with leading scientists across the EU, USA and China. This education programme introduced the challenges and opportunities offered by recent advances in safety assessment, including the new concepts of pathways-based risk assessment and the importance of mechanistically-derived approaches in adverse outcome pathway safety assessments. The research presented by SEAC scientists and our global partners illustrated new tools and novel approaches in exposure assessment, hazard characterisation and risk assessment for both human health and environmental safety. This education programme resulted in C-SOT establishing a new Society of Toxicology Alternatives and Translational Toxicology. An international workshop on mitochondrial toxicology and pathway-based chemical safety assessment, co-organised by Unilever, was held in October 2014 by this new society. Novel strategies for toxicological risk assessments SEAC and the Society of Toxicology (STOX), India held a symposium on ‘Novel Strategies for Toxicological Risk Assessments’ in September 2013, at Unilever’s R&D Centre in Bangalore (India) to share toxicological risk assessment strategies using non-animal methodologies and to encourage new research in the area. There is an increasing need for the development of novel methods for assessing toxicological safety. The symposium enhanced awareness of TT21C and newer pathways-based safety assessment approaches, and was an opportunity for Unilever scientists and global partners to showcase their research in this area. The event provided a forum for academic, industrial and regulatory scientists within India to network and discuss the issues facing researchers in developing such non-animal methodologies, and to explore capability development needed in India. The output from this workshop has been published [Roy and Akbarsha (2014) ALTEX, 31: 91-93]. This is Unilever's global company website © Unilever 2015 Contact us brightFuture What's in our products Legal Accessibility Cookie policy Privacy policy RSS