Modelling framework for assessment of dietary exposure to added flavouring substances within the FACET (Flavours, Additives, and Food Contact Material Exposure Task) project

•We present a method to assess dietary exposure to flavouring substances added.•This method allows to estimate the dietary exposure by three levels of refinement.•The model is illustrated through an example of exposure to isoamyl acetate.

This paper provides a model to assess dietary exposure to flavouring substances intentionally added to food. The purpose is to describe the approaches currently available and their scientific basis. The proposed exposure model for flavouring substances envisages three different levels of refinement: basic, intermediate and refined. At the two first levels, the model may be applied to all 2543 substances actually in use in Europe, while the refined level has been applied to 41 target flavouring substances selected within the FACET project. The refined level entails the use of the probability of addition of the flavouring substance added to the food and of correction factors related to losses owing to the processing of a food.