Research projects

Overview

There is currently a momentum in Arab countries to improve risk assessment practices for food hazards. This research proposes the enhancement of aflatoxins (Afs) management in food and the reduction of consumers’ exposure to Afs through Arab foods. To do so, this project will identify major sources of exposure to AFs from dietary sources, for countries the Arab region, with the support of local regulatory agencies, but also for Canada. Occurrence data will be generated but also extracted from the literature. Margin of exposure and cancer potency estimates will be applied to characterize risk. With this information, it will be feasible to estimate the impacts of AFs in Arab food from a health perspective but also from a market perspective. Ultimately, regulatory gaps and missing management practices will be identified based on Canadian experience. This project will help characterize opportunities of reduction of introduction points of AFs through processing, and the development or the adaptation of mitigation strategies that are already in place will be conducted at the regional level and/or for a given country.