Looking beyond borders: Integrating best practices in benefit–risk analysis into the field of Food and Nutrition

Assessment of Impacts to Health, Safety, and Environment in the Context of Materials Processing and Related Public Policy

“…The framework described in Figure 1 was developed as guidance for improving benefit-risk analysis of food and nutrition as well as other fields of policy support (3). It emphasizes increased communication and engagement among all relevant actors in relation to the issue being assessed and managed.…”

“…This framework includes five essential characteristic attributes of the assessment setting, typical categories within each attribute in this context, and examples of questions to ask when addressing each attribute. The framework is an adaptation of the analytical frameworks designed and applied in the BEPRARIBEAN project for studying the state of the art and potential for improvement in benefit-risk analysis within several different fields of practice relevant to environment and health (1,3) and comparing approaches to environment and health assessment with regard to their potential for effective participation (4). The Table 1 Framework for characterizing the settings for health, safety, and environmental assessments relevant to materials processing and related public policy framework is briefly presented in Table 1 and explained below.…”

“…Such a perspective, fundamentally building on the practices and means for knowledge creation and the interconnectedness of knowledge and action, can be helpful in allowing a focus on the most relevant issues in assessment and management, and engaging all relevant actors to develop a shared understanding of the actions to be taken upon them (3).…”

Addressing the risk of inadequate and excessive micronutrient intakes: traditional versus new approaches to setting adequate and safe micronutrient levels in foods

“…By quantitatively expressing the adverse health impact related to inadequate and excessive micronutrient intakes and weighing them against each other helps in decision making (18). A number of European projects, including the 'Best Practices in RiskÁBenefit Analysis' project, have evaluated how to best assess foods and food components (47,48). Several committees, for instance the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), make use of a tiered (stepwise) riskÁbenefit assessment approach to evaluate and manage potential changes in risks and benefits of dietary consumption patterns (49).…”

Nordic dietary surveys

“…Risk-benefit analyses cover several fields such as microbiology, the environment, nutrition and food marketing. Several Nordic countries have participated in research for improving risk-benefit analysis in the search for best practices, policy strategy and food regulation (Tijhuis et al 2012). …”