2006, Volume X, Issue 2Recent Symposia and MeetingsThe European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently convened a forum of nutrition, food safety, and toxicology experts from the EU Member States, Scandinavia, and Switzerland to evaluate new and existing strategies for quantitative risk-benefit analysis of food. From July 13 to 14, 2006, delegates to the Risk-Benefit Analysis of Foods: Methods and Approaches colloquium in Tabiano, Italy, attended presentations on the assessment challenges at hand and shared their views on which analytical tools, data, and procedures offer the most promising solutions. After an introductory lecture, discussion groups met to compare the nutrient content of specific foods with their risk of toxic contamination and to review various aspects of risk-benefit analysis in more detail. The forum represented a major step forward in the EFSA’s efforts to define a single commonly approved standard for assessing the relative nutritional benefits and health risks of various foods and food ingredients. A detailed summary of the structure and objectives of the
colloquium is available on the EFSA website: |