An introduction to the sciences of food chemistry and risk analysis that demonstrates
how the potential hazards associated with food chemicals can be assessed and managed.
Contents:
Part One: An Introduction
Food, chemicals and risk analysis: Food chemicals. Characteristics of food chemicals.
Risk analysis. The nature of risk. Personal decisions about risks. The use of risk analysis
in food safety. Uncertainty.
Part Two: Risk Assessment
Food chemical risk assessment: Current approaches to risk assessment.
Sources of uncertainty in hazard characterization. Uncertainties in risk characterization.
Opportunities for development in risk assessment.
Quantitative risk assessment: Wat is QRA? Definitions. QRA abd fiid safety: UK and US
perspectives. Advantages of QRA. Safety factor versus mathematical modeling. The LMS model.
Developments in modeling. Future developments in QRA.
Biomarkers in epidemiological and toxicological nutrition research: Classification
of biomarkers. Markers of external and internal exposure. Markers of biologically effective
dose. Markers of early biological effects. Markers of modified structure or function. Markers
of individual sensitivity. Selection, evaluation and application of biomarkers.
Expert systems for hazard evaluation: Factors influencing biological activity.
Making rules for expert systems. Representation of chemical structural information.
Structural descriptors used in expert systems. The effects of choosing different
types of descriptors. Assessment of hazard and risk. Some examples of expert systems.
The implications of choosing different types of system. Applicability of expert systems to
food chemical hazard evaluation.
Risk Assessment: alternatives to animal testing: The three Rs concept.
Statistics for the use of animals in food safety evaluation. Legislation relating
to food additive safety assessment. Tests required for food safety assessment.
Problems with animal tests. Currently available alternatives.
Molecular modeling: Chemical safety evaluation and risk assessment. The COMPACT approach.
Cytochromes P450 and their role in metabolic activation. Protein modeling. Quantitative
structure-activity relationships.
Estimation of dietary intake of food chemicals:Intake assessment methods for pesticides
and other agricultural chemicals. Ontake assessment methods for food additives. Food consumption
data sources for food chemical EDI analysis. Uncertainty in intake assessment. Future needs for dietary
intake assessment.
Assessing risks to infants and children:Infants and children - unique population subgroups.
Implications for risk assessment. Other considerations.
Dietary chemoprevention in toxicological perspective: Risk assessment of carcinogens.
Genotoxic substances in the diet. Chemopreventive substances in the diet. The lessons of toxicology
transposed to chemoprevention: four caveats. Feasibility of dietary chemoprevention in humans.
Prioritization of possible carcinogenic hazards in food: Causes of cancer. Cancer epidemiology
and diet. Human exposures to natural and synthetic chemicals. The high carcinogenicity rate among chemicals
tested in rodents. The importance of cell division in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. Ranking possible
carcinogenic hazards. Future directions.
Threshold of regulation: The threshold of regulation in practice. Advantages and effects
of the threshold of regulation process. Future issues.
An approach to understanding the role in human health of non-nutrient chemicals in food:
Non-nutrient chemicals under discussion. A new approach. Factors affecting the action of chemicals
in food. The approach.
Part Three: Risk Management
The philosophy of food chemical risk management: Responsibilities and benefits. a new game on
a different playing field. The emerging role of the risk manager. A glimpse into the deliberations of the
risk manager. Applying the philosophy - using the tools.
Consumer perceptions: Ranking the risks. Theories of risk perception. Risk debates and the importance
of trust.
Decision aids: Risk-benefit analysis. Assessing impacts on producers and consumers. Valuing human health risks.
Links to the environment.
Risk evaluation, risk reduction and risk control: Risk evaluation. Risk reduction. Risk control.
Evaluating, reducing and controlling risks - getting thte balance right.
Risk communication: Aims at risk communication. Problems associated with risk communication. Implications
of models of risk perception and psychological theories for communication. Contents of the risk
message. Information sources. Target recipients. The role of the media. Practical concerns
in risk communication.
Regulating food-borne risks: History of food regulation. Food regulation in the USA. Scientific basis for food safety evaluation. International
regulation of food-borne substances.
Part Four: Conclusion
Integrated food chemical risk analysis: Integrated risk assessment. Integrated risk management. Integrating
uncertainty.
Index.
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