Glossary
Acute toxicity - Adverse effects occurring within a short time of administration of a single dose of an agent, or immediately following short or continuous exposure, or multiple doses over 24 hours or less.
Acute reference dose - The estimated amount of a substance in food or drinking-water, expressed on a body weight basis, that can be ingested over 24 hours or less, without appreciable health risk to the consumer on the basis of all the known facts at the time of the evaluation.
ADME - Absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. The processes that determine the disposition and fate of an administered agent.
Attack rate – The proportion of an exposed population at risk who become infected or develop clinical illness during a defined period of time.
Chronic toxicity - Adverse effects occurring as a result of repeated dosing of an agent on a daily basis, or exposure to that agent, for a large part of an organism’s lifespan, usually more than 50%.
Cross contamination – Direct or indirect transfer of a pathogen from one medium (food or water) to another
Dose-Response Assessment : The determination of the relationship between the magnitude of exposure (dose) to a chemical, biological or physical agent and the severity and/or frequency of associated adverse health effects (response).
Exposure Assessment : The qualitative and/or quantitative evaluation of the likely intake of biological, chemical, and physical agents via food as well as exposures from other sources if relevant. ( The process of estimating or measuring the intensity, frequency, and duration of exposure to an agent. Ideally, it describes the sources, pathways, routes, magnitude, duration, and pattern of exposure; the haracteristics of the populations exposed; and the uncertainties in the assessment.)
Food-borne infection – Syndrome linked to the presence or the multiplication of micro-organisms in a foodstuff that has been ingested
Food-borne intoxication - Syndrome linked to the contamination of food by a chemical product
Food Poisoning – An acute illness resulting from eating contaminated or poisonous food. It excludes allergies to food ot toxins.
Gastroenteritis – Inflammation of the intestinal tract that normally results in diarrhoea.
Genotoxic - The potential of a risk source to cause and adverse efect(s)/event(s).
Hazard – Codex Alimentarius (Anon, 1996) defines a hazard as: a biological, chemical or physical agent in or property of food that may have adverse health effects.
Hazard Characterization : the qualitative and/or quantitative evaluation of the nature of the adverse health effects associated with biological, chemical and physical agents which may be present in food. For chemical agents, a dose-response assessment should be performed. For biological of physical agents, a dose-response assessment should be performed if the data are obtainable.
Hazard identification - the identification of known or potential health effects associated with a particular agent.
High-risk foods - those foods that are likely to be the vehicles of food poisoning organisms. They are ready-to-eat foods and under favourable conditions support the growth and multiplication of pathogenic bacteria. They are intended for consumption without treatment that would destroy such organisms; examples are all cooked meat and poultry and products from them, milk, cream and dairy products, cooked eggs and egg products, shellfish and other seafood, cooked rice, baby foods.
Host specificity – the characteristic of a pathogen that renders it capable of infecting one or more specific hosts.
Lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) - Lowest amount or concentration of an agent, found by experiment or observation, that causes an adverse alteration of morphology, functional capacity, growth, development or life span in an organism, system or (sub)population.
Margin of Safety (MOS) - Ratio of the critical no-observed adverse-effect level (NOAEL) to the actual exposure dose or concentration.
No observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) - Greatest concentration or amount of an agent, found by experiment or observation, that causes no detectable adverse alteration of morphology, functional capacity, growth, development or life span in an organism, system or (sub) population.
Pathogen – A micro-organism that causes illness or disease such dysentery, typhoid and food poisoning.
Reference dose - An estimate of the daily exposure dose that is likely to be without appreciable health effect even if continued exposure occurs over a lifetime. Related term: Acceptable Daily Intake.
Risk: A function of the probability of an adverse health effect and the severity of that effect, consequential to a hazard(s) in food. ( The probability and severity of an adverse effect/event occurring to man or the environment following exposure, under defined conditions, to a risk source(s)).
Risk Analysis: a process consisting of three components: risk assessment, risk management and risk communication.
Risk Assessment: a scientifically based process consisting of the following steps: (i) hazard identification, (ii) hazard characterization, (iii) exposure assessment, and (iv) risk characterization.
Risk Characterization : The qualitative and/or quantitative estimation, including attendant uncertainties, of the probability of occurrence and severity of known or potential adverse health effects in a given population based on hazard identification, hazard characterization and exposure assessment.
Risk Communication : The interactive exchange of information and opinions throughout the risk analysis process concerning hazards and risks, risk-related factors and risk perceptions, among risk assessors, risk managers, consumers, industry, the academic community and other interested parties, including the explanation of risk assessment findings and the basis of risk management decisions.
Risk Management : The process, distinct from risk assessment, of weighing policy alternatives, in consultation with all interested parties, considering risk assessment and other factors relevant for the health protection of consumers and for the promotion of fair trade practices, and, if needed, selecting appropriate prevention and control options.
Safety factor - Reductive factor by which an observed or estimated no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) concentration or dose is divided to arrive at a criterion or standard that is considered safe or without appreciable risk.
Septicaemia – blood poisoning. Rapid multiplication of bacteria and toxin production within the blood.
Subchronic toxicity - The adverse effects occurring as a result of the repeated daily dosing of a chemical to experimental animals for part (not exceeding 10 per cent) of the life span.
Syndrome – Group of symptoms describing a disease or the noxious effects of a chemical product
Threshold - Dose or exposure concentration of anagent below which a stated effect is not observed or expected to occur.
Tolerable daily intake (TDI) - Analogous to acceptable daily intake.
Tolerable(daily weekly, monthly) intake - Estimate of the amount of an agent that can be ingested or absorbed in the period specified, over a life time without appreciable health risk
Toxic equivalence factor (TEF) - Factor obtained by taking the ratio of the POD (point of departure) of the index compound to that of each of the other members in a group with a common mechanism of toxicity. Exposure to each chemical in the group is then multiplied by the appropriate TEF to express all exposures in terms of the index compound.
Toxicodynamics - The process of interaction of chemical substances with target sites and the subsequent reactions leading to adverse effects.
Toxicokinetics - The process of the uptake of potentially toxic substances by the body, the biotransformation they undergo, the distribution of the substances and their metabolites in the tissues and the elimination of the substances and their metabolites from the body. Both the amounts and concentrations of the substances and their metabolites are studied. The term has essentially the same meaning as pharmacokinetics, but the latter term should be restricted to the study of pharmaceutical substances.
Uncertainty factor - Synonymous with Safety Factor
Waterborne pathogen – An organisms capable of causing disease that may be transmitted via water and acquired through ingestion, bathing, or by other means.
Useful references and websites
An ILSI Risk Science Institute Workshop Report (2000) ISBN 1-57881-081-7.