RiskBenefit4EU – Partnering to strengthen Risk‐Benefit Assessment within the EU using a holistic approach

Abstract

“RiskBenefit4EU ‐ Partnering to strengthen the risk‐benefit assessment within EU using a holistic approach” was a knowledge transfer project funded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that integrated a multidisciplinary team from Portugal, Denmark and France. This project aimed to strengthen the EU capacity to assess risks and benefits associated with human food consumption, considering the fields of toxicology, microbiology and nutrition. To train the recipient partners from Portugal on Risk‐Benefit Assessment (RBA), a capacity‐building program was implemented, including three main activities: theoretical training on RBA concepts; hands‐on training applying concepts to a case‐study using methods and tools displayed; and scientific missions to provide advanced training in specific domains of RBA. The developed RBA strategy was applied to a case study focusing on the RBAof the consumption of cereal‐based products by Portuguese young children. Risks due to aflatoxins, Bacillus cereus, sodium and free sugars, were evaluated, as well as the benefit of fibreintake. Five different scenarios of infant cereals and/or breakfast cereals consumption were considered, and the assessment showed that moving from the current consumption to the considered alternative scenarios wouldresult in a gain of healthy‐life years. The RiskBenefit4EU project applied a collaborative method to train a new team to perform RBAs of foods and face the challenge of cooperation between experts from different disciplines. During the process of capacity building, a movement from conceptual knowledge towards action was an essential step to effectively increase performance. The developed framework facilitated the case‐study accomplishment and contributed to build a shared and harmonized RBA approach and culture. The suggested strategy can now be re‐used to capacitate other teams in RBA,and can be considered as a basis to build upon.

Increasing Seaweed Consumption in the Netherlands and Portugal and the Consequences for the Intake of Iodine, Sodium, and Exposure to Chemical Contaminants: A Risk-Benefit Study

“…Generally, in risk-benefit assessment for food safety and nutrition, it is advised and practical to run the assessment in a tiered approach, as described in the EU BRAFO project (27), about a decade ago. This has been further developed in the RiskBenefit4EU project (31,66). The risk-benefit question is addressed in this study by comparing intake and exposure levels in a reference and in an alternative scenario with established HBGVs and BMDLs.…”

Guidance on risk–benefit assessment of foods

“…Different methods that can support the RBA process are discussed in Sections 4 and 5 . Increased awareness of the use of RBA in solving complex research questions has led to the development and integration of new approaches and methods, research collaborations across Europe and the engagement of international agencies such as WHO, FAO and EFSA (Alvito et al., 2019 ; Assunção et al., 2019 ).…”

“…About half of the studies addressed specifically the (sub)population of women of child‐bearing age. EFSA‐supported activities through partnering grants (within the EU) resulted in a workshop in Copenhagen in 2017, an EFSA summer school in 2019, the ‘ Risk Ranking of Chemical and Microbiological Hazards in Foods – Research project and international workshop’ (Sand et al., 2023 ), the project ‘ RiskBenefit4EU : Partnering to strengthen the Risk‐Benefit Assessment within the EU using a holistic approach ’ (Alvito et al., 2019 ), the ‘ Novel foods as red meat replacers – an insight using Risk‐Benefit Assessment methods (NovRBA) ’ project (Naska et al., 2022 ) and the ‘ Alternative protein sources in the European diets – integrating health risk‐benefit and sustainability ’ (Alternativa) project. Novel foods (NF) is a new area where RBA has been applied (Naska et al., 2022 ; Vellinga et al., 2021 ; Ververis et al., 2024 ) where the benefits of the NF are taken into consideration when assessing risks and are compared with the benefits and the risks of the food replaced for a more comprehensive assessment of both nutritional value and risk to the consumer from the presence of specific hazards.…”

Risk-Benefit Assessment of Cereal-Based Foods Consumed by Portuguese Children Aged 6 to 36 Months—A Case Study under the RiskBenefit4EU Project

“…RBA integrates chemical, microbiological and nutritional risk and benefit assessments [26][27][28][29] and is used to inform food safety and public health strategies, including updating dietary advice [30]. "RiskBenefit for EU-Partnering to strengthen the risk-benefit assessment within EU using a holistic approach" (RB4EU) was a knowledge translation project funded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which gathered a multidisciplinary team and developed a framework for capacity building in RBA through case studies [26,31].…”