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Script: Risk Assessments - Introductory Episode |
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Intro:
Welcome to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service podcast. Each episode
will bring you cutting edge news and information about how FSIS is working to ensure public
health protection through food safety. While we’re on the job, you can rest assured that
your meat, poultry, and processed egg products are safe, wholesome, properly labeled,
and packaged correctly. So turn up your volume and listen in.
Host:
Welcome. I'm Alexandra Tarrant with the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Today's podcast begins a discussion focusing on the role of risk assessments. With me I have Dr. Denise Eblen, who will explain where these fit into FSIS and the Agency's public health mission.
Guest:
Hi - thanks for inviting me. I work in the Risk Assessment Division; I'm one of about a dozen risk analysts in the Office of Public Health Science. Our team has areas of experts ranging from epidemiologists, mathematicians, statisticians, veterinarians, microbiologists, chemists and more I'm probably forgetting.
Host:
So, Denise, what does a risk analyst do?
Guest:
We work with policy makers and other scientists to identify food safety issues, and to examine different strategies to control these issues, or hazards.
In this way, the folks who write the policies and regulations that our inspectors in the field then enforce can be confident that there is a scientifically valid reason for enforcing the rules, and that by enforcing them, the risk of foodborne illness will be reduced.
Host:
What does risk assessment involve? It sounds very complicated.
Guest:
It can be complicated - the trick is to get a clear understanding of the food safety issue, and the specific question that the policy makers need answered so that they can decide how best to tackle the public health risk.
There are three parts to risk analysis - there's risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication.
Different people at FSIS work on each of these parts, and the Agency recognizes risk analysis as central to establishing food safety policy.
One way I can describe a risk assessment is - an analysis of 'what-ifs'. For example,what if, say, a meat packer could introduce another step, maybe some kind of processing aid, which would kill 99% of Salmonella present?
Or…what if a poultry producer could rearrange the current manufacturing process to reduce carcass handling?
We can then gauge the effect of such 'what ifs' on the change in expected illnesses 'down the road.'
If it seems like something could significantly reduce the level of illnesses, policy makers might decide to focus on that part of the process for new policy development.
We have also done risk assessments on more exotic animal diseases, like bird flu, to assess what effective control strategies might be available if these were ever found in the United States.
Host:
How is a risk assessment performed?
Guest:
Like I said, risk assessments are based on science. "We pull together information from a wide variety of scientific fields and then we use this information to build a mathematical model that simulates real world situations."
Through these models, we come up with the best estimates for what factors affect food safety.
Bear in mind that there will always be some uncertainty around the results - after all if we had all the answers we wouldn't need to assess the risk, we could just straight-out state it!
So we get the 'what-if' questions, we gather available data, review relevant scientific literature, and collate all that knowledge to come up with a model that can provide answers to the 'what-if' questions.
A good model will generate results for different scenarios and will always include information on uncertainties. Uncertainty is an important part of the process. Like, when the weatherman says there is an 80% chance of rain tomorrow - that gives you an idea of how much confidence you can place in the forecast.
Host:
And what is the scope of these assessments?
Guest:
It varies. Some assessments need to be broad enough to include everything from farm to table, and others are set up to address one specific point during production. All that is decided early on, when identifying the 'what if' questions.
Host:
So what risk assessments has FSIS done?
Guest:
Several - check out the FSIS website - www.fsis.usda.gov - for the reports! Just search on risk assessments.
For example, there's one on Salmonella in egg products, BSE or mad cow disease in beef, Listeria in deli meats, E. coli O157 in raw ground beef - and many more. We are working on new issues all the time to inform federal food safety policies.
Host:
How do you ensure that you are going about these risk assessments the right way - surely there are many different ways to interpret data?
Is there any forum for non-FSIS scientists or even the general public to comment on FSIS risk assessments?
Guest:
That's a great question - like I said, we have a pretty diverse team of experts, but we not only value, but also need independent validation of the work we do.
Before we hand over our risk assessments we need to be sure that they are as good as they can be.
So in addition to using peer reviewers - who are usually other scientists in the field both within and outside the federal government - we also solicit input from the general public.
Again, on our website there are schedules for public meetings, instructions for submitting public comments, and other information about ongoing work.
Host:
How can we learn more? Can you walk me through an example of a 'what if' question that the risk analysts addressed that then went on to become part of a new Agency policy?
Guest:
I sure can - in fact I can do that for all the risk assessments we've done. I know we have several podcasts planned on risk assessments, so let's do just that in the upcoming episodes.
Host:
Well, Denise, we've come to the end of today's podcast, and I believe you've given us a good introduction to risk assessments. Thank you for coming.
Guest:
My pleasure!
Host:
And to all of our listeners, thank you for joining us. Be sure to stay tuned to the FSIS Web site at www.fsis.usda.gov for our next podcast on risk assessments.
Also, if you have a topic that you would like to hear more about, please email your suggestion to www.fsis.usda.gov
Outro:
Well, that’s all for this episode. We’d like your feedback on our podcast. Or if you
have ideas for future podcasts, send us an e-mail at
podcast@fsis.usda.gov. To learn more about food safety, try our web site at
www.fsis.usda.gov. Thanks for tuning
in.
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Last Modified: September 1, 2009 |
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