This symposium will address the important new initiatives that the FDA chemical risk assessment program has undertaken which will impact how FDA addresses new and recurring food safety issues.   Foremost among these is the modernization of FDA’s entire Chemical Food Safety Program to meet 21st century demands for both scientific expertise and transparency.  The re-emergence of chemical safety as a critical food safety issue has resulted in the FDA Office of Foods conducting an in depth analysis of how the program can be modernized to meet these new challenges.    Restructuring of this program across the entire FDA Foods program at FDA will be presented.  Integral to this modernization is the development of a systematic approach to how FDA assesses its regulatory gaps and directs its food safety research program.  Many potential changes to the chemical risk assessment paradigm will also be addressed.   Using a net-effects approach for chemical contaminants, whether non-monotonic  dose response issues will change how food additive safety is assessed, and the importance of evaluation of different susceptible life stages for all products regulated by FDA  all have the potential to influence how FDA will conduct risk  assessments in the future.  Additionally efforts nationally and internationally to modernize the science of toxicology may impact on FDA’s programs.  The impact of Tox Cast/Tox 21 on assessing toxicity, especially GRAS and dietary supplements, is an important question that will be discussed.  Additionally uptakes will be presented of several chemical compounds of concern, including inorganic arsenic, methyl mercury, and perchlorate. Taken together, the issues addressed in this symposium will inform the audience of how the FDA and the Toxicology Community are meeting the chemical risk assessment challenges of the 21st century.  It will also illuminate how these challenges will impact food safety assessments.

Presentations