Refined Exposure Assessment of Smoke Flavoring Primary Products with Use Levels Provided by the Industry. A Pilot Study into Data Collection of Use Levels.

ABSTRACT

Aim: The study was performed on the initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the Federation of the Dutch Food and Grocery Industry (FNLI), in order to develop a risk-based monitoring system as requested in EU Regulations EU 1332/2008 (food enzymes), 1333/2008 (food additives) and 1334/2008 (flavorings). In this study, we explored the appropriateness of smoke flavor primary product use levels provided by the industry for refined exposure assessment of these substances. Approach and Results: Previously, exposure estimates were performed with aggregated food categories. In this study, use levels of smoke flavor primary products obtained from the industry were linked to individual food consumption data of children aged 2–6 years and of the population aged 7-69 years, using disaggregated food categories. The reported data were suitable for exposure assessment, provided that they were sufficiently representative for foods consumed in the Netherlands. To evaluate the method, the exposure assessment was performed for the total intake of all smoke flavor primary products. Therefore, the exposure estimates of the current study cannot be used for the risk assessment of individual smoke flavor primary products. Nevertheless, this would be possible with the current dataset using the method described in this report, provided that additional data on market shares of foods or of individual smoke flavor primary products are available. Conclusion: The exposure to smoke flavor primary products can be more accurately assessed using data obtained from the industry. The cooperation between risk managers, exposure assessors and the food industry results in a win-win-situation for all parties by 1) providing a costeffective approach for risk managers, 2) providing exposure assessors a reliable and representative data set and 3) providing a realistic estimate, which is important for both the government and the industry. The monitoring system may be used to assess exposure levels of additives and flavorings in other European Member States. It is recommended to explore the use of the monitoring system in other European Member States, with smoke flavoring primary products as a case study. The complete report can be downloaded for free from http//www.rivm.nl/dsresource?objectid=rivmp225311&type=org&disposition=inline Full report is also available as ‘Supplementary File’.