Risk assessment of food additives including dietary exposure

Abstract

Lately, the entire society's focus has turned towards consuming more natural food products and the production of chemicals obtained utilising green technologies. The use of chemicals as food additives is a concern for consumers. For this reason, the search for natural and more sustainable additives is a key step to control food risks while meeting consumers' requirements. Essential oils could be considered potential green food additives on the basis of their valuable properties (chemical and microbiological). Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of knowledge regarding the safety associated with the consumption of essential oils and/or their nano-emulsions. In response to this issue, the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Toxicology and Legal Medicine (DNFSTLM) from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Seville, Spain, in partnership with the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, have engaged their efforts into the individual working programme titled ‘Risk assessment of food additives including dietary exposure’ as part of the European Food Risk Assessment Fellowship Programme (EU-FORA). The individual programme was built on three modular pillars that were based on a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach. The fellow's activities focused on experimental toxicology and evaluation of the dietary intake for citrus essential oils nano-emulsions (CEO-NEs). The objective was to provide a foundation in toxicology and train the fellow with the skills necessary to conduct toxicological investigations for risk assessment. Acquiring expertise in applying the guidelines of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was an important goal for the EU-FORA experience. Furthermore, the fellow received training in dietary risk assessment and participated in experimental research on the chemical characterisation, digestion processes and mechanism of action of bioactive compounds. In light of the results obtained, the individual programme was beneficial, the fellow being successfully trained and integrated into the hosting team. Furthermore, this project set the stage for further collaboration.