Food Toxicology Conference 2021

 

Heriot-Watt University, UK

Combining Pathophysiological Methods and Strategic Approaches to the Hazard Assessment of Ingested Nanomaterials

 

Combining pathophysiological methods and Strategic approaches to the hazard assessment of ingested nanomaterials 

Vicki Stone¹, Luisana DiCristo², Angela A.M. Kaempfer³, Stefania Sabella², Roel P.F. Schins³ and Victor Ude¹.

1. Heriot-Watt University, UK.
2. Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy.
3. IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.

When investigating the hazards of nanomaterials following ingestion there are many questions to consider including exposure concentrations, transformation, uptake and toxicity.  An Integrated Approach to Testing and Assessment (IATA) developed in www.h2020gracious.eu logically structures the questions needed to understand the hazards of nanoforms, as well as a tiered testing strategy to address these questions.  The IATA considers dissolution, transformation and hazard of the nanoforms following ingestion. For the tiered testing of hazard, the tier 2 methods focus on 3D gastrointestinal models such as those developed by www.patrols-h2020.eu. The Patrols models include the Caco-2 cell line with HT29-MTX-E12 plus immune cells (either THP-1 macrophages or Raji B lymphocytes). The models generated represented the Peyers Patches (Raji B), healthy gut wall (THP-1) or diseased gut wall (primed THP-1). Repeated exposure to nanomaterials over a period of five days allowed assessment of culture integrity, function and inflammatory measures.

 

Vicki Stone is Director of the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. Vicki is also an Honorary Principal Scientist at the Institute of Occupational Medicine.  Vicki is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Society of Biology and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was the holder of the Royal Society of Chemistries Toxicology Award (2015-16) and the Editor-in-chief of the journal Nanotoxicology for 6 years (2006-2011). Vicki has also published over 180 publications pertaining to particle toxicology over the last 25 years and was recognised by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) as one of the top 1% of all researchers in the world for the most cited publications in the field of Pharmacology and Toxicology (2016-2019). 

Vicki is currently a partner in three EU funded projects GRACIOUS (as coordinator), PATROLS and BIORIMA.   

 

European Food Safety Authority

EU approaches to Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials and Nanoparticles in Food

 

This presentation will cover a set of ongoing EFSA activities regarding the risk assessment of nanomaterials in food, as well as a vision for exploring the application of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in this area. The 2018 Guidance has been updated following consultations with stakeholders, the experience gained by its application to real cases, and clarifications on the scope, including legal updates in the EU regulatory framework. A new Guidance for identifying conventional materials that require assessment at the nanoscale has been improved following the comments received during the public consultation. In this presentation, we will describe the connectivity between these two guidances and explain the integration of these documents in the regulatory risk assessment process. In addition we will inform about the implementation plans. A second part of the presentation will focus on the use of NAMs for future advancements in the risk assessment of nanomaterials and nanoparticles.

 

Dr Jose V. Tarazona is Senior Scientific Officer at the Scientific Committee and Emerging Risk Unit and former Head of the Pesticides Unit at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). He co-chairs the EFSA Scientific Committee Working Group on Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies. Doctor in Veterinary Medicine with a PhD in Toxicology, from 1982 to 2009 was a researcher at the Spanish National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA), being appointed as Head of the Division of Environmental Toxicology and Director of the Department of the Environment. Before moving to EFSA, from 2009 to 2013 worked for the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), as Chair of the Committee for Risk Assessment and as Scientific Chair of the Evaluation Directorate.

 

University of Chester, UK

Risk Governance of Nanomaterials in Food

 

Like other sectors, rapid advancements in nanoscience and nanotechnology have brought a lot of hopeful anticipation for the food/feed and related sectors. Whilst most agri-food applications are still at early stages, the use of nanomaterials has raised new technological, consumer safety, and regulatory challenges. 

In Europe, the use of nanomaterials in food products is mainly regulated and authorised under the Novel Food Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. This, together with the Food Information Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, provides a regulatory framework for risk assessment, premarket authorisation, and labelling of any nanomaterials used in food/feed products. 

This presentation will highlight the current and emerging issues emanating from nanotechnology applications for food and non-food products, and discuss how the evidence-based mechanism for risk governance works in the EU, with a few examples of the scientific advice that have been published.

 

Prof Qasim Chaudhry has academic background in chemistry and biochemical toxicology, with longstanding expertise in health and environmental safety of food and other consumer products. His scientific career spans over 35 years, including 25 years at the UK’s Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) York. Over the years, his research work has encompassed different aspects of chemistry, biochemistry/ toxicology, molecular biology relating to safety of chemicals and nanomaterials; in silico (computational) toxicology to assess safety of chemicals without testing in animals, natural products from plants, immunodiagnostics for small-molecule compounds, bioremediation of organic pollutants, and modes of toxic action of chemicals. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). A list of his scientific publications is available here.

As an independent Expert, Prof Chaudhry provides his scientific advice to the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) on risk assessment of chemicals and nanomaterials in cosmetics; various working groups of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the UK's Food Standards Agency's Joint Expert Group on Additives, Enzymes and other Regulated Products.

 

National University of Singapore

 

Applications of Nanomaterials in Food and their Safety Challenges

 

Abstract 

Nanomaterials are widely added to food to improve on their appeal, nutritional value and extending their shelf life. Materials at the nanoscale presents many potential opportunities and also poses an uncertain level of hazards. Considering the essential nature of food, the responsibility of balancing the benefits and risks of food borne nanomaterials fall squarely on all parties of interest; from the regulators, food manufacturers, academia and even the consumers. In this talk, we will be discussing about toxicity issues when we reduce the material particle sizes down to the nanoscale (10-9m); showcase some possible toxicity testing systems for food nanomaterials and finally certain challenges faced.

 

A/Prof David Leong works at the interfaces of nanobiology, chemistry and engineering. His lab group has contributed to the nanosafety fields through using in vitro 3D cell models and genetically modified cell lines to depict certain diseased conditions. Another discovery that the group has made is in the area of endothelial health arising from nanoparticles in  blood vessels. He graduated with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Biology from National University of Singapore. He did his postdoctoral training in Howard Hughes Medical Institute at University of Pennsylvania and returned to NUS first as a Lee Kuan Yew Postdoctoral Fellow and subsequently as faculty in NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Dept until now. He was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is the 2020 ARC-CBNS International Visiting Professor. 

 

Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

 

Safety by “Discussion” - The role of Tripartite Partnerships in Furthering Novel Food Ingredient and Technology Safety

 

Abstract 

This presentation will look at the importance of collaborations across the food chain to ensure food safety approaches and frameworks are based on sound science and they takes into account the needs of both industry and regulators. It will provide a brief overview of a collaborative study being undertaken between A*STAR and the SFA to develop new tools for the assessment of local gut genotoxicity as well as touch on some of the shared platforms being established in Singapore to support the introduction of novel foods and technologies being brought to market.

 

As a risk assessor and toxicologist who has worked across industry, academia and government, Ben is a strong proponent of collaborative research and the importance of embedding safety across the entire food chain. He is particularly interested in the development of risk-benefit frameworks and the integration of human relevant and socially responsible safety methodologies into the regulatory approval processes for new ingredients and novel foods. His team is currently focused on the development of gastrointestinal models to assess genotoxicity, bioaccessibility and bioavailability of orally ingested materials, including nanomaterials considered for use by the food and consumer product industries.