Reassessing Food Additive Safety: The Impact of Combined Exposure and the Case for Policy Change

Abstract

Regulatory measures have traditionally determined the safety of food additives, with the regulatory aim of minimizing risks presented by separate substances in the additive. Nonetheless, there is growing evidence that combinations of exposures to more than one chemical are complex and cumulative, and such exposures cannot be adequately evaluated using existing assessment protocols. This paper subjectively analyzes the governance landscape, and it seeks to identify gaps in exposure evaluation, risk characterization, and the cross-jurisdiction harmonization. It uses the latest methodologies, such as adverse outcome pathway and dietary exposome, to investigate how advances in science can improve the assessment of the safety of additives. Case studies highlight specific susceptibilities among the kids and other at-risk groups, which call attention to the necessity of precaution plans. The issues linked to harmonizing mechanistic, toxicological, and epidemiological data in order to enable evidence-based decision-making are also discussed. On these bases, policy implications encourage the adoption of the standards, transparent and harmonized frameworks of risk assessment compatible with combined exposure condition scenarios. These measures need to be implemented to safeguard the health of people, enhance credibility to regulations, and create a directive to industry activities. The work will be relevant to the emerging debate of food additive safety in associating scientific evidence with policy change measures.