Chemical contaminants in foods

Understanding and managing risks

Contributions by Dr Rob Theelen, Ms Verna Carolissen Mackay, Dr Angeliki Vlachou, Mr Frans Verstraete, Professor Tadeusz Gorecki, Dr Daniel Cozzolino, Dr Gaud Dervilly, Dr Bozidar Udovicki, Dr Elaine Cohen Hubal, Dr Eileen Abt, Dr Pascal Sanders, Dr Dimosthenis Sarigiannis, Professor Mathieu Vinken, Dr Szabina Stice, Dr Britt Maestroni, Dr Gary Codling, Dr Thimo Groffen, Professor Gauthier Eppe, Dr Alfonso Lampen, Dr Hoonjeong Kwon, Professor Isabel Sierra, Professor Michael Appell, Dr Anna Sanches Silva Edited by Dr Rob Theelen

Publication date:

Q4 2025

Length of book:

600 pages

Publisher

Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing

Dimensions:

229x152mm
6x9"

Diet has consistently been shown to be the dominant source of exposure to the majority of contaminants that pose a threat to human health. However, there is concern that current methods for detection, analysis and risk assessment of chemical residues in food may not accurately reflect the complex cocktail of contaminants to which different groups may be exposed.

Chemical contaminants in foods: Understanding and managing risks provides a comprehensive overview of new approach methodologies with the potential to identify and assess health risks from chemicals in food or feed more accurately and rapidly, including human biomonitoring, advances in-vitro cell culture and in-silico methods and physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models. The book also considers how techniques such as adverse outcome pathways can inform more sophisticated, next-generation risk assessments to better protect the health of different groups in the population.

Part 1 Current principles and systems

1.The global framework for food chemical risk assessment: Verna Carolissen Mackay, Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, Italy;
2.The role of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in food chemical risk assessment: Angeliki Vlachou, FAO, Italy;
3.The food safety framework within the EU: Frans Verstraete, European Commission, Belgium;
4.Chemical contaminants in food: key issues in exposure assessment: Rob Theelen, Food Safety Portal, The Netherlands;

Part 2 Developments in risk assessment: Hazard identification/characterisation and exposure assessment

5.Advances in techniques for monitoring/detecting chemical contaminants in food: chromatography: Tadeusz Gorecki, University of Waterloo, Canada;
6.Advances in techniques for detecting chemical contaminants in food: electrochemical biosensors: Daniel Cozzolino, Central Queensland University, Australia;
7.The use of effect biomarkers to assess potential effects of exposure to chemical residues from food and other sources: Gaud Dervilly, Oniris Nantes, France;
8.Understanding the role of diet as a source of potentially harmful chemicals: Bozidar Udovicki, University of Belgrade, Serbia;
9.Evidence mapping of sources and pathways for potential dietary exposure to contaminants in food: the case of Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): Elaine Cohen Hubal, US Environmental Protection Agency, USA;
10.Advances in monitoring/surveillance programmes for identifying the presence of chemical contaminants in fresh produce: Eileen Abt, Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition – Food and Drug Administration, USA;
11.Advances in human biomonitoring to assess levels of dietary exposure to potentially harmful chemicals from food or other sources: Pascal Sanders, ANSES, France;

Part 3 Developments in risk assessments: Risk characterisation

12.Developments in toxicokinetic modelling of chemical residues ingested through food: Dimosthenis Sarigiannis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece;
13.The use of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) to link molecular changes to adverse health outcomes/effects related to chemical residues from foods: Mathieu Vinken, Vrije University, Brussels (VUB), Belgium;
14.Developments in in-silico tools for safety/risk assessment of chemical residues in food: Szabina Stice, Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition – Food and Drug Administration, USA;

Part 4 Environmental and processing contaminants

15.Advances in assessing heavy metal residues in food: Britt Maestroni, Food and Environmental Protection (FEP) – IAEA, Austria;
16.Advances in assessing flame retardant residues in food: Gary Codling, University of Exeter, UK;
17.Advances in assessing residues of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in foods: Thimo Groffen, University of Antwerp, Belgium;
18.Advances in assessing dioxins in food: Gauthier Eppe, University of Liege, Belgium;
19.Assessing microplastics and nanoplastics in food: Alfonso Lampen, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (GfR), Gemany;
20.Contaminants related to high-temperature processing of food: Hoonjeong Kwon, Seoul National University, Korea)

Part 4 Natural toxins

21.Assessing pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in food: Isabel Sierra, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain;
22.Assessing mycotoxin contamination of food: Michael Appell, USDA-ARS, USA;
23.Assessing tropane alkaloids (TAs) in food: Anna Sanches Silva, University of Coimbra, Portugal;