STSM in Copenhagen

Also the second Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) is complete!

 

The second scientific mission under the scope of the RB4EU project took place at DTU, in Copenhagen, from the 11th to the 15th March.

DTU, Copenhagen, received the team from INSA, Portugal, to work on the 2nd STSM of RB4EU.

During this mission the work foccused on the progress of the case-study, building upon the model created during the 1st STSM that occurred previously in Nantes.

The exposure, nutrtitional and toxicological aspects were integrated with the  microbiologic contamination data of Infant Cereals and Breakfast Cereals.

This 2nd STSM contributed to the creation of the final model, based on a probabilistic approach, that will be used for future Risk-Benefit Assessment (RBA) activities.

STSM in Nantes

And the first Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) is over!

The first of the two planned scientific missions under the scope of the RB4EU project took place at INRA, in Nantes, from the 25th February to the 1st March.

INRA, Nantes, received the colleagues from ASAE, Portugal, to work on the 1st STSM of RB4EU.

During this mission the work on the case-study progressed, foccused in the areas of microbiologic contamination of Infant Cereals and Breakfast Cereals and exposure assessment.

This work contributed to the construction of the model that will be used for the Risk-Benefit Assessment (RBA) work that will be performed during the project and to the framework that will potenciate future RBA activities.

Publications tab updated!

To be sure our followers don’t miss any of our publications, we made an update of the Publications tab, with the documents organized in a more user-friendly way.

The publications are now organized as “Presentations”, “Posters” and Scientific papers.

You can access the Publication area of the site either by clicking on the Publications tab or clicking on the image bellow.

 

Second Training on Risk-Benefit Assessment

During the week of 8th  to 12th October, the second training of the RB4EU took place, at INSA, Lisbon.

Members of the team from all partner institutions joined together to have a more in-depth approach to the Risk-Benefit Assessment (RBA), previously started in May at the first training action.

In this training, the basic concepts were recalled and new and advanced concepts were discussed, along with the use of software to perform RBA.

Additionally, the scope of our RBA case study was discussed and the current and alternative scenarios were established. Also, the potential risks and benefits related to the selected group of foods were considered and its final selection is part of the upcoming work of the RB4EU team.

 

International Workshop on Food Risk-Benefit Assessment under RiskBenefit4EU project took place in Lisbon, 21st and 23rd May, 2018

As part of the RiskBenefit4EU project (“Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic approach”) which is funded by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), an international workshop focusing on “risk-benefit assessment of foods” was organised in Lisbon on 21^st and 23^rd of May, 2018.

Hosted by the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, the event gathered more than one hundred participants from Portugal and abroad, interested in the different disciplines that compose the risk-benefit assessment (RBA), including microbiology, toxicology and nutrition.

This workshop aimed to discuss the importance of risk-benefit assessment in the area of food safety and nutrition, to overview the Portuguese activities in this area of research and to outline future perspectives on this domain.

For the detailed programme, link

For the book of abstracts, link

For the presentations of the workshop, link

 

 

Workshop on risk-benefit assessment of foods 21st May 2018, Portugal

Update: the detailed program for the Workshop

Venue: Auditorium of National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal

 

Free of charge; Mandatory registration using the LINK

 

Monday, 21st May

 

9h00	Registration
9h30	Opening session President of INSA General Inspector of ASAE General Director of DGAV General Director of DGS
Session I: Is risk-benefit assessment an important tool for food safety and nutrition?
9h45	What is risk analysis in food safety and nutrition? From risk assessment to risk-benefit assessment Filipa Vasconcelos (ASAE)
10h15	Introduction to risk-benefit assessment (RBA) of foods Lea Jakobsen (DTU) Food is a basic requirement providing nutrients for a healthy life. At the same time, consumption of unhealthy and unsafe foods is the cause of many diseases. Therefore, an integrated assessment that evaluates both the beneficial and adverse health impact of food consumption is needed: risk-benefit assessment (RBA) of foods. RBA is a multi-disciplinary research field combining data and methodologies from toxicology, microbiology, nutrition and epidemiology. RBA provides quantitative evidence on the overall health impact of decisions regarding food consumption, both from a consumer and public health management point of view.
10h45	Risk-benefit assessment in Europe Géraldine Boué (INRA) At present, about 100 Risk-Benefit Assessment (RBA) in foods were carried out, mainly in Europe. While the first studies focused on fish consumption, more recently a wider range of food categories (e.g. nuts, milk and meat) and practices (e.g.  fortification and effect of cooking) have been covered. These case studies will be presented to give an overview of what has been done so far in RBA and how it has been done (different methods using different ways to compare risks and benefits).
Coffee-break
11h45	European ongoing activities related with RBA of foods Sara Monteiro Pires (DTU) Recent European projects on Risk-Benefit Assessment have made substantial progress has been made in terms of method development and data integration. However, several challenges remain and various research groups work in parallel to improve methods, expand the discipline’s application and create a platform for collaboration. These include RBA projects ongoing at national level, international partnerships such as RiskBenefit4EU, and  the International Network on Risk-Benefit Assessment of Foods (RBA Network) hosted by DTU Food.
12h15	Discussion
12h30 Lunch
Session II: Risk assessment versus risk-benefit assessment – Portuguese reality
14h00	Which consumption data are needed to perform risk-benefit assessment? Duarte Torres (UPorto)
14h15	Children exposure assessment to food additives: an exploratory study Elsa Vasco (INSA) The increase of processed products in children´s diet has been accompanied by an increase in the consumption of food additives. This study allowed to infer the profile of children exposure to food additives and to launch preliminary results to justify the need for more detailed and refined studies, as well as the development of a national monitoring program for evaluation of additives intake.
14h30	Risk assessment of foods consumed by children – a case study Ricardo Assunção (INSA) Children are a vulnerable part of the population and could be exposed to multiple contaminants via food. In many parts of the world, children are routinely exposed to natural food contaminants as mycotoxins. Co-contamination of foodstuffs with multiple mycotoxins is being reported at an increasing high rate and this fact constitutes a rising concern due to the hazard of exposure of combined mycotoxins to humans. Risk assessment of chemical mixtures, including multiple mycotoxins, is considered a research challenge. A Portuguese case study on children exposure to multiple mycotoxins through food will be presented.
14h45	Effect of selected food components on effectiveness of dietary exposure mitigation to chemical contaminants Isabel Castanheira (INSA)
15h00	Evaluation of the benefit/risk associated to the consumption of seaweeds based on the bioaccessibility of antioxidant compounds and contaminants Maria Manuel Gil (MARE, IPLeiria) Seaweeds are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds. However, due to the increasing levels of pollution in the oceans, seaweeds also tend to bioaccumulate contaminants that can compromise their consumption. In this context, knowledge about the benefits/risks associated to the consumption of seaweeds is of great importance.
15h15	An overview of the risk-benefit assessment associated to contaminants and nutrients intake through seafood consumption: case studies Cláudia Afonso (IPMA) What we must do to eat in a healthier way? Which seafood should we prioritize? Answering such questions has been and still is a huge challenge that demands a broad and interdisciplinary work of analysis and data interpretation. Cutting-edge research on bioaccessibility/bioavailability and statistical modeling offer precious tools for this risk-benefit assessment.
15h30	Discussion
Coffee-break
Session III: Risk-benefit assessment – future perspectives
16h15	RiskBenefit4EU – project presentation Paula Alvito (INSA) “RiskBenefit4EU – Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic approach” is a recent European pilot project funded by EFSA and coordinated by Portugal (PT). This project integrates a multidisciplinary team from health and food institutes, national food safety authorities, R&D institutions and academia from PT, Denmark (DK) and France (FR). The main objectives of RiskBenefit4EU concerns the development of a set of RBA tools that can estimate the overall health effects of foods, food ingredients and diets.
16h35	Future perspectives and opportunities in risk-benefit assessment of foods Géraldine Boué (INRA) RBA is now recognized as an essential tool to provide comprehensive recommendations in food and human health. Even though it remains a complex multidisciplinary exercise, it is now demonstrated that it provides valuable conclusions to make more informed decisions in food safety and nutrition. Numerous public health issues could benefit from this holistic assessment: to provide appropriated recommendation of foods and diets, to optimize food formulation and its manufacturing process, to determine micro and micronutrients optimums while considering potential deficiency / toxicity and protective health effects…
16h50	Discussion
17h15	Closing session President of INSA

 

In addition to this programme, a videoconference with Hans Verhagen, Head of the Risk Assessment & Scientific Assistance Department of EFSA, will be held on 23^rd May (Wednesday), from 10h00 to 12h00, concerning

• Risk-benefit assessment in the EU perspective
• EFSA’s guidance on uncertainty in scientific risk assessment
• Questions and discussion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Workshop on Food Risk-Benefit Assessment – 21 & 23 May

INSA International Workshop on Food Risk-Benefit Assessment under the International project RiskBenefit4EU, 21 & 23 May 2018, Portugal

The risk-benefit assessment of foods is a valuable tool to estimate the overall impact of food on health in order to underpin evidence-based decision-making process and to contribute to improve human health.

“RiskBenefit4EU” is a European project funded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and coordinated by the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA). This project aims to strengthen the European Union (EU) capacity to perform risk-benefit assessments of foods, considering an integrative approach on microbiological, nutritional and toxicological aspects. The “Workshop on risk-benefit assessment of foods”, performed under “RiskBenefit4EU”, will be held on 21st and 23rd of May, at INSA auditorium https://riskbenefit4eu.wordpress.com/event-calendar/.

This workshop aims to discuss the importance of risk-benefit assessment in the area of food safety and nutrition, to overview the Portuguese activities in this area of research and to outline future perspectives on this domain. This event includes keynote lectures given by scientists of world-renowned institutions as the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and EFSA, as well as presentations by national researchers presenting studies developed in this area. This workshop will also present the European project coordinated by INSA “RiskBenefit4EU”.

This workshop aims to gather health professionals, scientists, industry and university students as well as all those interested in this subject. Participation is free, but registration is mandatory, subjected to the availability of seats. Registration is already open.

The program is available here.

And we are online!

Kick-off of the Project RiskBenefit4EU

The international project RiskBenefit4EU was launched on the 17^th January 2018, at a kick-off meeting in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy.

RiskBenefit4EU is funded by EFSA and coordinated by the National Institute of Health Dr Ricardo Jorge (INSA), in a joint initiative of 5 organizations from 3 EU member states:  INSA, Portugal, Economic and Food Safety Authority (ASAE), Portugal, Faculty of Food Sciences and Nutrition, University of Porto (UPORTO), Portugal, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), France and National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark.

RiskBenefit4EU is based on the motto “Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic approach”. It aims to strengthen the EU capacity to assess and integrate consumers food risks and benefits in the areas of microbiological, nutritional and chemical components through the development of a harmonized framework that will be available to EU member states organizations. This tool will allow evidence scientifically Risk-Benefit optimization regarding diseases prevention and public health promotion.