An essential part of the Food Safety Emergency Response (FSER) is the process of assessing the risk, making risk management decisions, and communicating risk in the face of time constraints, lack of data and knowledge gaps. While the elements for conducting a risk analysis have been documented by Codex Alimentarius, the process of applying the risk analysis concept operationally during an emergency has not been addressed thoroughly. Some countries do, however, have well-defined procedures for assessing, managing and communicating food safety risks in the context of emergency situations, from which best practices may be derived. FAO and WHO have developed this document to support countries in applying risk analysis principles and procedures during emergencies in their own national food control...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization convened a Joint Expert Consultation on the Risks and Benefits of Fish Consumption from 25 to 29 January 2010. The tasks of the Expert Consultation were to review data on levels of nutrients (long-chain omega-3 fatty acids) and specific chemical contaminants (methylmercury and dioxins) in a range of fish species and to compare the health benefits of fish consumption and nutrient intake with the health risks associated with contaminants present in fish. The Expert Consultation drew a number of conclusions regarding the health benefits and health risks associated with fish consumption and recommended a series of steps that Member States should take to better assess and...

Biotoxins produced by certain algal species can be accumulated by bivalve molluscs. This constitutes one of the major public health risks that need to be managed during shellfish production. With a view to aiding risk assessment, monitoring and surveillance programmes, this paper provides a range of information about the various biotoxins globally recorded in shellfish: levels detected, toxicological data, methods of analysis for detection and quantification of toxins, and the risk assessment approach for public health management. The complex chemical nature of the toxins, along with several analogues, hampers the development and validation of methods for their detection, for the evaluation of their toxicity and for the development of limits for shellfish safety management. This paper also illustrates the approach...

This document contains food additive specifications monographs, analytical methods and other information, prepared at the seventy-fourth meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), which was held in Rome, Italy, from 14 to 23 June 2011. The specifications monographs provide information on the identity and purity of food additives used directly in foods or in food production. The main three objectives of these specifications are to identify the food additive that has been subjected to testing for safety, to ensure that the additive is of the quality required for use in food or in processing, and to reflect and encourage good manufacturing practice. This publication and other documents produced by JECFA contain information that is useful to...