Risk assessment of dietary exposures to compounds that are genotoxic and carcinogenic—An overview

The process of risk assessment of dietary exposures to genotoxic carcinogens is summarised. Exposures to six genotoxic carcinogens in food (acrylamide, aflatoxin B1, benzo(a)pyrene, dimethylnitrosamine, ethyl carbamate, PhIP) have been used to illustrate the process. The margin of exposure (MOE) approach is seen as a useful method to be used in the risk characterisation step of assessing exposures to genotoxic carcinogens. This approach combines information on animal potency and human exposure, and can be used to indicate levels of concern and also the ranking between various exposures to such agents. Both the T25 and the BMDL10 methods may be used as a reference point. Should a specific MOE value be developed as a cut-off between levels of concern and levels of low concern, the value using T25 data is proposed to be 2.5-times higher than using BMDL10 data. Linear low-dose extrapolation using either T25 or BMDL10, may also be applied. However, it should be understood that this approach should not be interpreted as giving a precise estimate of human risk. For exposures to mutagens in food lacking carcinogenicity data, it is proposed to apply the MOE approach to the lowest effective dose (LED) for in vivo genotoxicity.