Assessment of combined risk to pesticide residues through dietary exposure

Plant protection products (PPPs) are preparations intended to protect plants and their products including one or more active substances. The use of PPPs may cause direct or indirect risks. Residues that can remain in or on food might pose a danger to human health through consumption and acute or/and chronic exposure. Authorisation of active substances and PPPs are decided at European and national level, respectively. Risk assessment of dietary exposure to residues of PPPs is regulated by a very extensive legal framework, ensuring consumer safety. The review and evaluation of the residue section of active substance monographs and the dossiers for PPP authorisations within the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) helped gain hands-on experience on food risk assessment, as previewed in the framework of the European Food Risk Assessment Fellowship Programme (EU-FORA). The programme also focused on the cumulative effects of acute exposure to pesticides in food on the human nervous system using probabilistic methodology and it was in continuation of the work carried out by ANSES and the regulated products department residue unit. Using the European Database for processing factors for pesticides in food was one of the main challenges in order to approach a more realistic scenario of exposure. The probabilistic methodology followed was used in accordance with the European Food Safety Authority harmonised guidance.