QUANTITATIVE REASONING CASE STUDY COMPARISON

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Ranking Food Products based on estimating and combining their microbiological, chemical, and nutritional risks.
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Safe Food for Infants: An EU-China Project to Enhance the Control of Safety Risks Raised by Microbial and Chemical Hazards all along the Infant Food Chains.

1. QR Case Study Comparison Ranking food products based on estimating and combining their microbiological, chemical and nutritional risks Safe food for infants: An EU-China project to enhance the control of safety risks raised by microbial and chemical hazards all along the infant food chains TITLE OF THE PUBLICATION JOURNAL OF THE PUBLICATION Global Pediatrics Food Research International Publication Date 6 may 2023 2 May 2022

2. OBJECTIVE Propose a straightforward method for categorizing and prioritizing food products based on M, C, and N risks. It’s aim is to d evelop a way to classify foods based on risk factors and rank them by aggregating these risks. Method applied to 17 RTE dishes in the French market. Comparing overall risks of food products usually managed independently by experts. Seeks practical solution for ranking risks. Evaluate M and C risks using Codex Alimentarius guidelines. N risks assessed based on impact on nutrient adequacy and healthy eating patterns. Utilizes PROMETHEE outranking method for relative ranking based on cumulative risk scores. Targets health risks from microbial and chemical hazards in infant food chains within EU and China. Focuses on children under three years old. Aims to comprehensively address risk identification, assessment, detection, and mitigation. Develop integrated approach for managing microbial and chemical health risks in infant food chains. Establish risk benchmark using extensive hazard identification system with multiple data sources. Implement risk ranking procedure to prioritize and address significant hazards. Enhance hazard control via combined top-down and bottom-up measures, integrating management options and detection technologies. Utilize predictive toxicology to uncover unexpected contaminants and enhance risk understanding. Improve risk-based food safety management by incorporating omics and predictive microbiology techniques.

3. SCOPE The project's primary focus appears to be on the EU and China, and it may not directly address global food safety challenges outside of these regions . While the project involves data science and technology, it doesn't mention addressing environmental or sustainability issues related to infant food production . While food safety is a primary concern, the project doesn't explicitly state that it addresses broader issues related to food quality or nutritional content. The study primarily focuses on assessing and ranking food products based on their safety risks (microbiological and chemical) and their nutritional implications. It may not address broader aspects of food quality, such as taste, texture, or appearance . The text doesn't indicate a focus on assessing the environmental sustainability of food products or their production methods. It appears to center on safety and nutritional aspects . While the study mentions adherence to Codex Alimentarius guidelines for assessing microbiological and chemical risks, it may not provide specific regulatory or policy recommendations for food safety or nutrition.

4. FOOD RISK ASSESSMENT Relevant hazards in infant food, identification of hazards in a specific food product and ranking of the risks . HAZARD IDENTIFICATION The processes of hazard characterization , exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Hazard identification requires the creation of underlying databases by collecting, aggregating, validating and analyzing a wide range of available data RISK RANKING To rank both chemical and microbiological risk. I mprovising the overall quality of infant diet to propose new tool and to enhance the effectiveness of food safety management options . RISK BENEFIT ASSESSMENT • Evaluate risks and benefits in activities/substances, particularly food safety and nutrition. Compare risks with potential benefits •Comprehensive assessment, not quick and straightforward . MULTI CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS • Combine food safety and nutritional quality, integrating them into broader food systems. • Enables holistic decision-making in complex scenarios . RISK ASSESSMENT • Evaluate hazards in Ready-to-Eat (RTE) dishes FAO recommendations. • Determined by probability of hazard exceeding critical threshold. METHODOLOGIES

5. Scoring Severity of Substances (using ANCES Decision Tree) •Framework developed by French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) •Assess and classify substance severity . Determining Toxicological Reference Values (TRVs) • Establish TRVs for substances based on available data, prioritizing established TRVs using analogous well-studied substances for cases with no data . Hazard Quotient (HQ) • Use HQ and link strength factor to estimate risk scores, contributions to exposure and external data . Aggregation and ranking of risks using PROMETHEE II •Evaluated correlation between risks using Spearman correlation coefficient. •Considered risk correlation, emphasized nutritional risk's prominence, and balanced M, C, and N risks . Effectiveness of the food management options Prioritize and to design the most effective solutions combining control measures at critical points of the production process Sampling and monitoring strategies along the food chain Innovative preservation technologies Development of safer, fresher, healthier and more sustainable products with the implementation of new and emerging technologies . Surveillance of known chemical hazard To improve the coverage and the efficiency of non-conformity detection by food safety authorities . Discovery of unknown chemical hazard in food SAFFI will particularly focus on non-targeted methods to explore unsuspected and unknown contaminants S pectrometry analysis and bioassays to measure biological activity regardless of chemical structure.

6. RESULT The study found that there wasn't a strong correlation between microbiological risk, chemical risk, and nutritional risk. The correlations among these risk factors, measured by the Spearman coefficient, were relatively weak. Additionally, the study found discernible patterns in the nutritional risk scores of certain food groups, but these patterns diverged in some cases. Notably, the aggregation of results identified "Vegetarian plate vegetables and quinoa" (M4) and " Papillote of chicken, potatoes and small vegetables, parsley juice" (M3) as the least risky dishes. An outranking multi-criteria methodology was used for aggregating the results that took into account multiple types of risk with equal weight. The last text discusses approaches to improve the safety of infant food. One approach is to use a system that detects a wider range of unexpected or unknown chemical hazards. This system may also help predict the behaviour and assess the risks of food-borne pathogens. Another approach is to improve hazard identification and risk ranking to prioritize hazards. The system includes tools, databases, procedures, and models to aid this process. The text mentions a possible method of using combinations of bioassays with fitting extraction methods as part of self-monitoring by companies. It also touches on introducing a sample pooling strategy for the efficient detection of contaminated samples. These proposed solutions aim to provide safer infant food options.