[2] A dietary exposure assessment allows a comparison to a relevant health standard such as the acceptable daily intake (ADI), the acute reference dose.
[2]/ In the most simplified form, a dietary exposure assessment can be summarized with the following calculation:* Dietary exposure = food consumption X food chemical concentration Estimating or calculating the dietary exposure to a given chemical or contaminant allows a comparison to a relevant health standard such as the acceptable daily intake(ADI), the acute reference dose (ARfD) or a reference dose (RfD), or a level known to cause adverse effects in animal or human health studies.
[2] From this comparison, one can begin to assess the risk of adverse effects from a chemical or contaminant due to dietary exposure.
[citation needed] Food consumption surveys are conducted by government agencies and world organization in order to maintain their respective databases.
These consumption surveys are also conducted independently to generate data for specific assessment needs.
Choosing the appropriate database is important in order to accurately assess the consumption of the target population being evaluated.
[citation needed] The USDA Food Availability Data System[6] is one of the primary databases tracking consumption in the United States.
[1] Converting these regularly consumed foods into raw agricultural commodities allows for easier cross referencing with chemical residue databases.
Other residues may be antibiotics, heavy metals such as lead, or naturally occurring toxins such as mycotoxins, phycotoxins and phytotoxins.
These databases typically contain data for residues found on raw agricultural commodities which is collected during routine monitoring and enforcement.
The foods analyzed are purchased at the retail level and prepared as they would be consumed prior to analysis so that the analytical results are indicative of realistic estimates of dietary intake.
[15] The monitoring program is run by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) which partners with state agencies to collect and analyze pesticide residue data.
[15] The EPA uses this data to enhance its programs for food safety and evaluate dietary exposure to pesticides.
[1] A sensitive population could also be one in which the exposure level is much greater than the average for reasons such as geography, culture, or traditional diets.
The processing and preparation of commodities is subject to increase or decrease the level of residues at the time of consumption.
[17] Quantifying dietary exposure most often involves the use of models, which vary in complexity depending on the tier, or level of detail of the assessment in which they are utilized.
[5] This basic approach is also used in more complex models; however, the contributions of various food items and types are summed as inputs.
[5] Exposure model outputs can be expressed as a single point estimates or as a probability distribution.
[5] The DEPM database system contains numerous national, government-sponsored food intake surveys and chemical residue data from monitoring programs.
[5] A critical component of the DEPM model is the recipes, which convert food as consumed to the raw agricultural commodities for which the chemical residue data is collected.
[19] DEEM utilizes Monte Carlo analysis to provide probabilistic assessments of dietary pesticide exposure.