Risk Characterization

Risk Characterization is defined in the Codex Alimentarius Commission Procedural Manual, Fourteenth Edition (2004) as “The qualitative and/or quantitative estimation, including attendant uncertainties, of the probability of occurrence and severity of known or potential adverse health effects in a given population based on hazard identification, hazard characterization and exposure assessment.”

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation defines risk characterization as the "integration of hazard identification, hazard characterization and exposure assessment into an estimation of the adverse effects likely to occur in a given population, including attendant uncertainties"

Format	Author(s)	Title / Description	Date added	Details
	Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition	2004 Acrylamide in Food Workshop: Update - Scientific Issues, Uncertainties, and Research Strategies Presentations and other materials from this workshop on acrylamide in foods held April 13-15, 2004 in Chicago, IL. Presentations include "An EU Perspective on Acrylamide in Food"/Slayne, Martin; "Acrylamide in Food - Mitigation"/Lingnert, Hans; "Mitigation Options: The FRI Acrylamide Program"/Pariza, Michael W.; "The Updated Exposure Assessment for Acrylamide"/DiNovi, Michael and Howard, Donna; "Characterizing the Risks of Acrylamide in Food"/Gray, George; "Update on FAPAS acrylamide series"/Castle, Laurence; "Report on activities carried out by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre"/Wenzl, Thomas and Anklam, Elke. Presentations and summary reports from working groups are also available. Working groups included "Mechanisms of Formation and Methods of Mitigation," "Analytical Methodology," "Exposure and Biomarkers," "Toxicology and Metabolic Consequences," "Risk Communication," and "Risk Characterization". (more) Event Dates: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - Thursday, April 15, 2004 Publication Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2004	Apr 28, 2004
	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization	Animal Feed Impact on Food Safety Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Animal Feed Impact on Food Safety which was held at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 8 to 12 October 2007. The meeting concluded that ensuring safe feed is an important component of efforts to reduce and prevent food safety hazards and indicated several potential measures to ensure safe feed. Agenda of the meeting, list of participants, experts' resumes and list of documents are included as appendices. The report is being translated in French and Spanish. Printed copies may be requested from: Daniela.Battaglia@fao.org. (more) Publication Year: 2008	Feb 26, 2008
	Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization(WHO)/World Organisation for Animal Health	Antimicrobial Use in Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance Consultation to evaluate usage patterns, and the public health impact of the use of antimicrobials, to develop strategies to minimize any risk. (more) Publication Year: 2007	May 30, 2008
	Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture	Avian Influenza Training This course provides the information and resources needed to recognize clinical signs and gross lesions that could be suggestive of Avian Influenza. Click here to launch the course in a separate browser window. (more) Publication Year: 2007	Mar 11, 2008
	American Chemical Society	Chemistry and Safety of Acrylamide in Food Abstracts from the sessions on acrylamide in food at the 227th ACS National Meeting, held March 28-April 1, 2004 in Anaheim, CA. Includes abstracts related to formation and reduction, toxic effects, exposure, risk characterization, carcinogenicity, analysis, data needs, and more. (more) Event Dates: Monday, March 29, 2004 - Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Publication Date: Monday, March 29, 2004	May 12, 2004
	Mucci, L.A., P.W. Dickman, G. Steineck, H.-O. Adami, and K. Augustsson	Dietary Acrylamide and Cancer of the Large Bowel, Kidney, and Bladder: Absence of an Association in a Population-Based Study in Sweden Abstract and report of a study on the link between consumption of acrylamide in foods and the risk of bladder, kidney, or large bowel cancers. Includes a description of study methods and results, and data is provided in tables. (more) Publication Date: Monday, January 13, 2003	Jan 29, 2003
	Sielken and Associates Consulting, Inc.	DistGEN DISTribution GENerator. A tool for Monte Carlo simulation. Applications include exposure and dose analysis, as well as aggregate and cumulative risk characterization. (more)	Jun 3, 2002
	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization	Enterobacter sakazakii and Other Microorganisms in Powdered Infant Formula Report of a meeting convened by the FAO & WHO on 2-5 Feb. 2004. Includes executive summary and three appendices: List of Background Papers, Data Received in Response to Call for Data, and notes on strategies used in the risk assessment. (more) Publication Year: 2004	Feb 1, 2005
	Sara Fein	FDA Food Safety Surveys This presentation was given at the 1st International Conference on Microbiological Risk Assessment: Foodborne Hazards, held in Adelphi, MD on July 24-26, 2002. It describes FDA food safety surveys, including types of information available, methods, data weights, use in exposure assessment, relevance to children, use in risk characterization, strengths of the data, how to access the data, and the ease of collecting this type of data. The pdf version of this presentation is available here. (more) Publication Date: Thursday, July 25, 2002	Aug 19, 2002
	Fazil, Aamir M.	Hazard and Risk Characterization of Salmonella Presentation on hazard and risk characterization of Salmonella, including use of outbreak data and dose-response models. Publication Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2001	May 15, 2002
	Buchanan, Robert L.	Hazard and Risk Characterizations for Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Foods This presentation includes discussion of dose-response models for hazard and risk characterization, including dose-response relations for specific subpopulations. (more) Publication Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2001	May 15, 2002
	Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services	HazDat Database Database with information on the release of hazardous substances and the effects on human health. Includes contaminants found, contaminant media and maximum concentration levels, impact on population, community health concerns, ATSDR public health threat categorization, and exposure routes. (more)	May 29, 2002
	Committee to Assess the Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion, National Research Council	Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion Study performed by National Research Council, by request of the EPA, the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to evaluate available data on the health effects of perchlorate. Appendices include "Sensitivity of Perchlorate-Induced Iodide Uptake Inhibition to Serum Iodide" and "Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling". Full text of final version of report may require purchase, when available. (more) Publication Year: 2005	Feb 16, 2005
	Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment	Health Risk Assessment/Characterization of the Drinking Water Disinfection Byproduct Chloroform This document, prepared under the direction of the Health and Ecological Criteria Division, Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water, Environmental Protection Agency, presents a risk characterization of the health risks from chronic oral exposure to chloroform. Includes discussion of hazard characterization, dose response, and exposure. (more) Publication Date: Wednesday, November 4, 1998	May 29, 2003
	Risk Assessment Program, Toxicology and Risk Analysis Section, Life Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Department of Energy	Human Health Risk Exposure Model This tool uses exposure concentrations to calculate doses and risks. The equations for performing this analysis are also available for different exposure scenarios. Exposure through consumption of fish can be found in the RECREATIONAL LAND USE; Exposure to Contaminants in Water section, and exposure through the consumption of homegrown produce can be found in the RESIDENTIAL LAND USE; Exposure to Contaminants in Water section. (more)	Aug 30, 2002
	Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration	Important Message for Pregnant Women and Women of Childbearing Age Who May Become Pregnant About the Risks of Mercury in Fish Consumer advisory about the risks of methylmercury in fish to unborn children. Publication Month: March 2001	May 29, 2002
	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization	Microbiological Hazards in Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Report of the Expert Meeting FAO and WHO convened on 19–21 October 2007 to consider how to adequately address the extensive request for scientific advice received from the 38th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) on the microbiological hazards associated with fresh produce. (more) Publication Year: 2008	Feb 22, 2008
	Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives	Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins, Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans, and Coplanar Polychlorinated Biphenyls Safety assessment of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs. Sections include "Explanation," "Biological Data," "Analytical Methods," "Effects of Processing," "Levels and Patterns of Contamination of Food Commodities," "Estimated Dietary Intake," "Prevention and Control," "Dose-Response Analysis and Estimation of Risk," "Comments," "Evaluation," and "References". (more) Publication Year: 2002	Jan 27, 2004
	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization	Risk Characterization of Microbiological Hazards in Food - Joint FAO/WHO Workshop This page includes the background and objectives for this workshop held February 24-28, 2003 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Event Dates: Monday, February 24, 2003 - Friday, February 28, 2003 Publication Date: Monday, February 24, 2003	May 4, 2004
	Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization	Risk Characterization of Salmonella spp. in Eggs and Broiler Chickens and Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-eat Foods - Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation Risk Characterization document for Salmonella and Listeria created during the April 30-May 4 2001 Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Microbiological Hazards in Foods. (more) Event Dates: Monday, April 30, 2001 - Friday, May 4, 2001 Publication Date: Monday, July 30, 2001	Aug 31, 2001
	Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University	Study Shows Acrylamide in Baked and Fried Foods Does Not Increase Risk of Certain Cancers in Humans This press release describes a study conducted by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden that found no association between acrylamide in foods and an increased risk of bladder, large bowel, or kidney cancer. The release provides a brief overview of study methods and results. The study results were published in the January 28, 2003 issue of the British Journal of Cancer. (more) Publication Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2003	Jan 29, 2003
	Chalk, Peter	Terrorism, Infrastructure Protection, and the U.S. Food and Agricultural Sector Testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of Columbia, which discusses the potential risks from bioterrorism to the food supply. (more) Publication Month: October 2001	Jun 11, 2002

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