Dietary Exposure Assessments Services

Intertek conducts food dietary exposure assessments or food intakes assessments to support safety evaluations of food additives, novel food ingredients, and other food-related substances.

Dietary exposure estimates are a critical aspect of the risk assessment process carried out by competent authorities for compounds such as food additive petitions, novel food submissions, enzyme approvals, GRAS determinations, and food contact material notifications.  Estimating exposure to a dietary substance may not be limited only to intended food or beverage uses; consideration may also be warranted for existing authorised or GRAS uses, natural occurrence in foods comprising the regular human diet, and intake through food/dietary supplement consumption. 

Ensuring that the approach taken is appropriate for your specific needs is paramount in order to position your application in the most advantageous position for approval. Intake strategies should take into account the sources of information available, background intakes (if any), and the potential to expand the intended uses of your ingredient, nutrient, or dietary substances at a later development stage. 

Today, a global perspective is essential in gaining approval in multiple markets. Based on extensive global experience in conducting dietary intake estimates based on various modelling methods, Intertek's regulatory and scientific experts have an comprehensive understanding of the food industry's regulatory hurdles and can assist in developing a dietary exposure assessment strategy which is customized to each client’s needs. 

Our dietary exposure assessments services include: 

• Guidance on suitable food uses or categories of use, considering the intended applications of your ingredient or dietary substance 
• Development of strategies for estimating dietary exposure to the dietary component of interest considering the most suitable methodology, using the most up-to-date international food consumption databases 
• Conducting estimates of background intakes for dietary components (ingredients, nutrients, contaminants etc.) 
• Calculation of theoretical mean and/or percentile dietary exposure estimates for compounds which may be inherently present in an ingredient or introduced during manufacturing (e.g. mycotoxins, heavy metals, solvents), using food consumption data combined with the relevant regulatory requirements for the jurisdiction
• Determination of acute and chronic estimates of dietary exposure for individual age groups within the total population 
• Integration of dietary exposure estimates into safety assessments for product development or regulatory purposes 
• Advising on suitable dataset for use in assessing exposure from the global collection of databases of food consumption available in-house, available across 4 continents