History

Present version

This is version 16.10. The lastest update was made 1 January 2024.

History of versions

V16.10 The database of XI was updated; now the tool uses the Dutch consumption database of 2019-2021. If needed, on can still use the previous version with the database of 2012-2016 in the Archive.

V16.9 A research article referring to the Foodsafetyportal was accepted by the Food Control journal. A copy is included in the "portal" page.

V16.8 In 2023, Regulation 1881/2006 on contaminants in food was repealed. It is replaced by Commission Regulation 2023/915 of 25 April 2023. This new Regulation does not contain new MLs, but offers only a new format for its annexes. In July 2023, this new Regulation had its first update following Commission Regulation 2023/1510. The search of a food stuff can now be performed in connection with a chemical substance. So one can now search for e.g. Aflatoxin B1 in maize.
A change was also made in the procedure of searching chemical substances for a rapid exposure assessment. Now one can only change the Margin of Exposure for BMDLs; such a change is not allowed any more for HBGVs and slope factors.

V16.7 In this version Regulation 1881 of 2006 was updated, according to Regulation 2023/465 of 3 March 2023 amending maximum levels of arsenic.

V16.6 The module for selection of chemical compounds was updated, taking into account the proposal for priorities of HBGVs and BMDLs as presented under the web page of "Exposure assessment" of the topic. This update is relevant for all calculation tools that use a maximal permissible exposure level.
At the same time, the module for selection of commodities in EAST 2 was updated to allow for an input of consumption of commodities that are not included in the databases. This option was already available in EAST 2, but was not working flawless. Details are included in the web pages about using EAST.
Finally an additional module was developed and included to clear internal memory in the server between various activities, to avoid potential interaction with variables from previous calculations.

V16.5 EAST 2 was combined with CoFo to create EAST 3. Now it is possible to perform exposure assessments as in EAST, using EU consumption quantities as reported in EFSAs Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database. Because of this it was also considered necessary to update some descriptive web pages referring to CoFo and EAST.
Some small changes were also made in the web pages on the topic of HBGVs and BMDLs, to indicate that the approach introduced in V16.2 on the Margin of Exposure is now a common procedure used for the evaluation of consumers exposed to chemicals in food commodities.

V16.4 In V16.4 two new Regulations were added to Contaminant Regulation 1881 of 2006. The first refers to Commission Regulation 2022/2002 of 21 October 2022, amending a series of Maximum Levels for dioxins and PCBs in various products of animal origin. The second refers to Commission Regulation 2022/2388 of 7 December 2022, with Maximum Levels for 4 perfluoroalkyl substances. These MLs entered all into force per 1 January 2023.

V16.3 As mentioned in the description of V16.2 it was foreseen to update XI and ImproRisk, by inserting the new approach on the evaluation of the Margin of Safety. This is done in version 16.3. Besides of this change it was decided to include also the input for correction of the concentration on composition and processing, as was already possible in EAST. The csv output of XI and ImproRisk now also includes a column with consumption quantities. In this way one can better evaluate the exposure of each consumer.

V16.2 In this version a new approach is introduced, referring to the method of evaluation of the Margin of Exposure. It was decided to develop a test on genotoxicity to set an evaluation level for genotoxic chemicals. Besides different evaluation levels are now set for non genotoxic chemicals using BMDLs, from animal or human studies. This approach was included in EAST and EAST 2; an update of XI and ImproRisk will follow in the next update. In line with this change, minor updates were made in the input procedures of EAST and EAST 2, and in the views. In line with this new concept, various files were updated, such as "HowToUse", and a full description of the approach under the topic of "HBGVs and BMDLs".
For new users an introductory webpage is included referring to the general concept of the "Portal". Besides a "News" page was added to inform users about an important update, such as the new approach for the evaluation of the Margin of Safety.

V16.1 Regulation 1881/2006 was updated with Commission Regulation 2022/617 of 12 April 2022, with a revision of the maximum levels of mercury. The M numbering was updated to bring it is line with the M numbers of the consolidated version of 1 July 2022.
Acute intake values were added to CoFo, as presented at the EFSA website on food consumption data, copied form the version of 28 July 2021.

V16.0 This version includes a new tool, CoFo. CoFo is an implementation of the chronic consumption data for the EU, as published in the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database.
At the same time, a small series of updates and minor changes in the structure of the portal were made. The reference to EFSAs RACE was removed from the main screen, and is now to be found a part of the reference to EAST.

V15.3 The EAST tool was updated, into EAST 2. Its icon was changed, to include the number "2". The major change is the underlying EFSA PRIMo database. EAST 2 is using the most recent version: PRIMo revision 3.1. As a consequence, EAST 2 will show more EU scenarios than EAST, including some with high percentiles of consumption. Besides the selection of commodities was renewed, and a new format for the output is presented. The output can be converted into a pdf file, and new results for additonal concentration data can be calculated using a fixed selection of chemical, commodity, and scenarios.

V15.2 Regulation 2006/1881 was updated with Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/2142 of 3 December 2021. Besides the reference to the consolidated version was updated to the one of 1 January 2022. Adjustements were made in line on how the consolidated version is presented, i.e. only regulations in force are included, excluding the pyrrolizidine alkaloids and the opium alkaloids. These are presented without a M number, but with a reference to the Regulation.

V15.1 Regulation 2006/1881 was updated with Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1317 of 9 August 2021, Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1323 of 10 August 2021, and Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1399 of 24 August 2021. The link to the consolidated version was not updated as the consolidated is not yet changed at this date.
A minor change was made in the layout of the various pages, to ensure that the home button and site menus are always visible, as some users might not be aware of the home button.

V15.0 From comments of participants of BTSF trainingen it became clear, that there was a need for more information regarding the concept of the Margin of Exposure of EFSA, in relation to exposure assessments of chemical substances in food and feed. The term BMDL caused confusion with the acronym of the HBGV. So a new topic on HBGVs and BMDLs was added.

V14.1 Based of the comment of an expert, a reference to an EFSA document was added to the introduction of Risk Ranger.

V14.0 A part of a video was added, demonstrating how to sample feed and food for official control purposes.

V13.0 In line with the change of the name of the link to the portal (V10.0) it was decided to better normalize the general structure of the portal, both with regard to the content and the server's data structure of that content. Some related topics were separated; each now having an icon and their own set of webpages. Consequently the number of blocks at the main page mirrors the major version number. Besides the order of the tools in the top bar was slightly changed, and the History and About icon were moved to the footer.
New topics were added. First there is a series of pages describing the main approach of genotoxic and carcinogenic substances in food or feed. This includes some classifications, and the methods used to evaluate their risk. This topic also includes EFSAs Margin of Exposure approach for the assessment of genotoxic carcinogens.
Another topic is POCO, short for Population Consumption. This tool quantifies the intake of food commodities for individual consumers using the consumption database of the XI tool. This tool was developed on request of users and already included in the portal, without any clarification. Now one can find some background information on this tool and a new icon.

V10.0 The full portal was moved from the (private) website of the author (portal.robtheelen.nl) to foodsafetyportal.eu. The latter name fits the content of the site better and is therefore more easy to be memorized.

V9.2 In this version Regulation 1881/2006 was updated. Included is Regulation 2020/2040 on Pyrrolizidine alkaloids of 11 December 2020. Besides some minor textual changes were made in various topics.

V9.1 The data of the US-EPA IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System) database from Februari 2021 were added to the database with the EFSA Open Food Tox data. As the layout and extended information of IRIS is quite different from that of EFSAs OFT, it was decided to change the presentation of the results of IRIS accordingly.
Some minor textual ad layout issues in various pages were corrected.
On request of users of the portal, a new application was developed to calculate the intake of (groups of) food commodities, using the consumption data in XI. Exposure to chemicals is not tested; its output shows only statistics of the amounts of food ingested. For this the XI tool was copied and adapted. This tool (without a name yet) is to be considered a beta version at this time; changes and additional text are foreseen in the forthcoming period.

V9.0 Two new subjects were added. The first topic refers to the Codex Alimentarius. Here it is presented how this international organisation on food safety is organised, and how persons can find the appropriate information to participate in meetings.
The second topics refers to the EFSA Open Food Tox database. This database contains information on Health Based Guidance Values derived by EFSA, which play a significant role in the exposure assessment of chemical compunds in food and feed.

V7.1 In this version an issue was solved with the output (third day only) by the ImproRisk tool.

V7.0 The XI tool layout was used to develop a second system to calculate the variation of intake of chemicals through food for individual consumers. For this the datasets of the ImproRisk model (Cyprus) were imported, to demonstrate the possibility to develop a XI-like tool for other countries, and to make intake calculations for the Mediterranean region. The format and content of the Help texts for XI, ImproRisk, and EAST were then harmonized.
The stand-alone version of RiskRanger for the evaluation of food contamination with pathogens was copied, and reprogrammed into an online version for the portal.
The database with MLs of the EU Regulation 1881/2006 was updated with amendments of the the Commission Regulation 2020/685 of 20 May 2020, and Commission Regulation 2020/1255 of 7 September 2020, and Commission Regulation 2020/1322 of 23 September 2020.
A course on Toxicology was added to the Other information online topic.

V5.1 The test on HBGVs was added to the XI tool. To select the HBGVs the interface was included that was developed for EAST. As the link to XI in V5.0 was not easy to be found, it was decided to change the homepage, and to update all underlying pages.

V5.0 A new tool (called XI) was developed to calculate the intake of chemical substances from food, for a large group of individual consumers. It is based on a series of Food Consumption Inquiries in the Netherlands in the period of 2012 to 2016. This tool can also perform Monte Carlo type calculations when the user provide an input file with a series of concentrations. Output is provided in a CSV file, which can easily be imported in spreadsheet programs and statistical tools for further analysis.

V4.1 The database of Regulation 1881 of 2006 was updated, with the changes as described in Regulation 2019/1870, and Regulation 2019/1901, and the Corrigendum to Regulation 2019/1870.

V4.0 For this version, the database with HBGVs was updated, using EFSAs OpenFoodTox database of 2020.
Besides the databases were fitted with additional fields which include the date of an update (i.e. changes of existing records, and additions of new records) for version control purposes. In this way it is possible to recall previous versions.
History was added, and it was decided to alter the version numbering system for better maintenance.

V1.2 The input interface of EAST was updated with a small calculation module, to correct the concentration of a chemical for a composite food (e.g. dioxins per gram fat to be converted to product base), and for changes of concentrations in raw commodities into commodities "as consumed" (e.g. processing factors for pesticides). Besides it was updated with a small module to calculate the "Maximal Consumption Quantity" for rapid risk assessment of chemicals lacking consumption data.
The Directive 32 was also updated.

V1.1 It was noted by users that EAST could only be used to evaluate non-genotoxic chemicals. Genotoxic carcinogens can be assessed in different ways; it was decided to include the evaluation of genotoxic carcinogens in EAST, using two methods. First, by means of the "slope factor". The factors were taken from the US-EPA IRIS database. And second, by means of the Margin of Exposure (MOE) as defined by EFSA, using BMDLs from the OpenFoodTox database.

V1.0 A new interface was developed, including four topics: MRLs, EAST, feed food transfer, and links to additional websites. For this interface, web pages were added with clarifying texts regarding the topics. Besides, the MLs in Regulation 1881 and in the Codex General Standard were updated. This version was introduced in various BTSF and EFSA training sessions for people from official control organizations. This version included also the calculation of the "Limit of Rejection" for official control purposes.

V0.9 On request of various contacts with EU official control organizations, the portal was extended with a calculation tool for (rapid) exposure assessment of chemical compounds in food or feed (in relation to the RASFF notifications). Initially it was based on a simple calculation module, where HBGVs and consumption data needed to be included by the user. As people have difficulties to provide these data, it was decided to present these values from databases to be selected by the user. HBGVs are imported from the EFSA OpenFoodTox database and US-EPA IRIS database. Consumption data are taken from EFSA PRIMO. The calculation tool was then named EAST (Exposure ASsessment Tool).

V0.1 This version shows MRLs of the Codex Alimentarius for pesticides, veterinary drugs, and additives. For the contaminants a new database was build using General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food (GSCTF) 193 of 1995.
For the EU, a link was made to the EU pesticide database. For contaminants in food and feed, two new databases were build, using the Regulation 1881 of 2006, and Directive 32 of 2002.
The version included also a link to a (demo) website with PBPK models, which were developed for the Dutch food safety authority.