Application of food description to the food classification system: Evidence of risk assessment from Taiwan as Acrylamide of grain products

She-Yu Chiu a, Hsin-Tang Lin b,c, Wen-Chao Ho d,*, Min-Hua Lin a, Pau-Chung Chen e,f,g, Hui-Ying Huang a

a Department of Nutrition, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan

b Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, 11561, Taiwan

c Graduate Institute of Food Safety, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, 40227, Taiwan

d Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan

e Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

f Department of Public Health, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

g Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

Harmonization of national consumption data for international comparison is an important but challenging work, yet to date there is a lack of comparable food classification systemthat incorporates food description in Taiwan. In 2015, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released a new standardized food classification and description system called FoodEx2, which provides a flexible combination of classifications and descriptions. Based on FoodEx2 and a unique data set of daily food consumption offered by Taiwan Food Consumption Database, this study aims to provide a harmonized, food description incorporated, food classification system (HFDFC system) that captures all the useful details of food groups in exposure assessments. The HFDFC system was built according to six risk-assessment-related facets including food sources, processed products, cooking methods, manufacturers (brand), food additives and specialty foods. The HFDFC system includes 199 foods in the core list and 131 foods in the extended list. This study also compared the Acrylamide hazard index estimated under the HFDFC system with that under the National Food Consumption Database in Taiwan (NFCDT). The findings indicated that the HFDFC system provides useful and detailed information that helps the users to quickly identify food information in a harmonized manner and to reduce estimation bias. The HFDFC system is expected to facilitate global comparisons in the food risk assessment because it is built based upon EU Foodex2.

Keywords: National food consumption database, Food classification system, Exposure assessment, Acrylamide