Foodborne Disease Severity caused by Chemical and Toxins
It is difficult to attribute disease by long term exposure to chemicals n food to the actual food in question because the period of time between exposure to chemicals and effect is usually long.
This is one of the reasons why, in contrast to biological hazards, the protection of public health from chemical hazards has for a long time largely employed the risk assessment paradigm.
Essentially the risk assessment paradigm relies in estimates of potential toxicity, most often from anima studies.
Exposure to chemicals in food can result an acute and chronic toxic effects ranging from mild and reversible to serious and life threatening.
These effects may include cancer, birth defects and damage to the nervous system, the reproductive system and the immune system.
Once the hazard characterization of a chemical has been performed, estimates of exposure through the diet and other sources are necessary to asses whether there is a public health concern.
Evaluation measures to assess potential harm has been focused on attaining information on the levels of chemicals in food and the diet as a whole, and national and international programmers have been developed to obtain such data.
However, biomonitoring for the certain chemicals may serve as a better or an additional tool in evaluation studies in the future.
In addition, the use of biomarkers for exposure as well as hazard identification and hazard characteristics may improve the accuracy and reliability of risk assessments of chemicals in food.
Foodborne Disease Severity caused by Chemical and Toxins
