RISK ASSESSMENT OF CHEMICALS IN FOOD OF ANIMAL ORIGIN: STUDIES IN MARKET BASKET OF THE CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN

Risk analysis represents the most useful scientific approach for making food safety decisions. One of the three pillars of risk analysis is risk assessment, and market basket studies allow for the evaluation of exposures to hazardous elements present in food and characterizing the risk they represent, as well as identifying the most vulnerable subgroups of consumers and recommendations for consumption. As foodstuffs from animal origin are the most relevant source of the environmentally persistent toxic pollutants, during the last years we have performed monitoring studies of all the main animal origin foodstuffs that are consumed in our region (the Canary Islands, Spain). By combining these data of chemical contamination of food with those of consumption of food we have assessed the exposure of an average consumer, and identified the major risks that this exposure represents. Here we present the summary of the results obtained in these studies, which indicate that the dietary exposure to these contaminants can be considered from medium to high, in particular as it refers to dioxins, whose consumption would widely exceed the EU's tolerable daily intake of 2 pg/kg bw/day. The results of our studies may be useful for risk managers in the design of appropriate risk communication campaigns aimed to reduce the consumption of certain types of foods to protect the consumer's health.