Category Research project
  • Analytik
  • Expositionsschätzung

Inspections and Samples: risk based versus random – phase 2

Project status
Completed
Project start
Apr 2024
Project end
Apr 2025
Acronym
RBR
Department
Exposition

Description and Objective

In 2023, the two project partners AGES and NWVA analysed existing control plans and conducted a literature review on the availability of methods for combining risk-based and random controls. Although they found well-reasoned control plans that often included both risk-based and random controls, they were unable to identify a standardised method for selecting the respective combination of risk-based and random controls. The literature review found that while there are some methods that can be used for combining risk-based and randomised controls, there is virtually no work on generally applicable methods for selecting the optimal combination. In addition, a number of factors were identified that may influence the choice of control strategy (risk-based, random or a combination) and a framework for the development of such a strategy was proposed. By 2024, AGES and NVWA aim to build on the results of Phase 1 of this project in three ways: 1) extending the approaches developed in Phase 1 to combine control allocation with recovery in a single process; 2) developing practical use cases for the approaches developed in Phase 1 at AGES and NVWA; and 3) sharing the approaches developed in Phase 1 with other Member States through web conferences and support in developing their own use cases. The BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment will contribute one such use case involving samples from official food monitoring.

Result

Preparatory work for an attempt of integrating risk-based concentration data in foods into dietary exposureExposureTo glossary assessments has been performed. Initially, data for one substance, Cadmium, has been requested and explored for potential recovery candidates. For Cadmium, most foods with enough samples for a comparison seem not to differ in a strong way between risk-based and random sampling. A potential explanation is that the programme-specific risk-oriented sampling criteria do not impact Cadmium concentrations enough for a difference to emerge. 
Key Messages:
-          Identification of proper risk-oriented sampling criteria is substance- and food-specific
-          If risk-oriented sampling criteria of an otherwise risk-based programme do not counter to the representativeness criteria of random sampling, the expected bias can be neglected and they can be evaluated together with samples from random sampling

Type of project

Third-party funded project

Research focus

Harmonisierung und Standardisierung von Expositionsschätzungen

Organisational units and partners

Lead specialist group: Lebensmittelexposition und Gesamtbewertung (34) External partner: AGES - Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit GmbH, Netherlands food and consumer product safety authority

Funding body and grant number

Europäische Behörde für Lebensmittelsicherheit
GP/EFSAshort forEuropean Food Safety Authority/ENREL/2022/03-SA04

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