Abstract
The aim of the European Funded Project BRAFO (benefit-risk analysis of foods) project was to develop a framework that allows quantitative comparison of human health risks and benefits of foods based on a common scale of measurement. This publication describes the application of the BRAFO methodology to three different case studies: the formation of acrylamide in potato and cereal based products, the formation of benzo(a)pyrene through smoking and grilling of meat and fish and the heat-treatment of milk. Reference, alternative scenario and target population represented the basic structure to test the tiers of the framework.Various intervention methods intended to reduce acrylamide in potato and cereal products were evaluated against the historical production methods. In conclusion the benefits of the acrylamide-reducing measures were considered prevailing.For benzo(a)pyrene, three illustrated alternative scenarios were evaluated against the most common smoking practice. The alternative scenarios were assessed as delivering benefits, introducing only minimal potential risks.Similar considerations were made for heat treatment of milk where the comparison of the microbiological effects of heat treatment, physico-chemical changes of milk constituents with positive and negative health effects was assessed. In general, based on data available, benefits of the heat treatment were outweighing any risks.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | S724-S735 |
Journal | Food and Chemical Toxicology |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | S4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords*
- Acrylamide
- Benefit-risk assessment
- Heat processing
- Milk
- PAH
- Tiered approach
Field of Science*
- 4.5 Other agricultural sciences
- 3.3 Health sciences
- 3.1 Basic medicine
Publication Type*
- 1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database