Assessing Food Chemical Risks

When an unexpected chemical contaminant is detected in a food commodity, ingredient, or finished product, its human health impact must be quickly assessed. Timely decision making about the risk of the contaminant and appropriate action(s), such as whether to implement a food product recall, can be complicated by a number of factors. If the state of the science on the chemical is emerging, risk assessment data are insufficient, data are conflicting, there is toxicological uncertainty, or there ar…