RAC Meeting Minutes (December 13, 2001)
Annual meeting
USDA/ERS 1800 M Street, NW
South Tower, 3rd floor, Waugh room B
9:30-10:30am: RAC technical representatives - 3 minute updates
Mary Bartholomew- Possibly in the spring CVM may want the RAC to review the E. faecium risk assessment again. (Mary wants to talk to John Bowers about CAFOs-confined animal feed operations.)
Carol Maczka- NAS is reviewing FSIS's E. coli risk assessment in ground beef; it is currently available on the FSIS web site. We are expanding this assessment to non-intact beef products. The S. E. risk assessment for eggs and egg products is currently undergoing revision. FSIS may do a salmonella species risk assessment in raw poultry, beef & ready-to-eat foods. BSE risk assessment is public and available on the FSIS website.
Robert Webb- The army's VSA is working on a food vulnerability assessment guide. USAMRID is expanding its capabilities for diagnosing pathogens in food.
Richard Canady- NAS is doing a Risk-risk tradeoff assessment for dioxin exposure vs. nutritional impact. (check the NAS website). The project was initiated by an OSTP interagency working group, including various agencies in DHHS and USDA, as well as EPA, OMB, and the Depts. of Commerce, State, and Veterans Affairs.
Marianne Milliotis- All of the CFSAN dose-response grant recipients
have asked for extensions. Researchers have to come up with IRB
that agrees with Maryland and FDA.
Researchers at U. Texas (Cryptosporidium dose-response grant)
lost freezer samples due to power loss, need to repeat some.
Allan Hogue- WHO/FAO exposure assessment workshop-working on developing guidelines for exposure assessment. Expect a final document in about a year.
Mark Tamplin- Tom Oscar at University of Maryland-Eastern Shore has been comparing growth of GFP-producing strains of Salmonella in cooked poultry and has found that their behavior does not always follow that of the parent strains at certain temperatures. Rolando Flores at Wyndmoor is developing models about how the distribution of O157:H7 in ground beef is affected by grinding. Fred Breidt at North Carolina State University is developing models of the competitive growth of bacteria, including as biocontrol agents for Listeria. Mark Tamplin is working on models of the growth of O157 in raw ground beef as affected by strain variation, fat level, inoculum level and competitive flora. The ARS-FSIS hotdog study is nearing completion in 2002 (12 processors are producing hot dogs and samples are analyzed by ARS for Listeria, including quantification of Listeria).
Mary Torrence- CSREES got money from Congress to fund a risk assessment in North Dakota. Proposals for epidemiologic study of food safety, due Jan 15, 2002.
Angelo Turturro- NCTR has some projects related to detecting bioterrorism. Organisms are ruptured and mass spec. is used to see if organisms can be identified. The focus is on pathogenic strains.
Mark Walderhaug- CFSAN is updating the Vibrio risk assessment. Comments are being addressed. Pacific NW harvesting is different than what was previously modeled.
Eileen Choffnes- EPA/OPPTS has been working on bioterrorism related topics, mainly detection and surveillance, fumigants to clean up, and how clean is clean enough?
Mary Fox- AAAS Risk Policy Fellow at ORACBA
She is working on food quality protection act issues with Linda
Abbott .
Tanya Roberts- ERS held a workshop, "Information Resources for Policy Analysis" in Oct. 2001.
Dick Whiting- Listeria risk assessment team is working
on the comments from the public. FAO/WHO- is doing risk assessments
for Listeria, Salmonella, and Vibrio.
CFSAN is taking part of the Listeria risk assessment to
the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criterion for
Foods (NACMF).
Kathy Hollinger- OWH is funding a study to assess the presence and level of dioxins in tampons. Drugs used in pregnancy initiative: Four protocols have been selected for funding and will be initiated in the new year. Also, OWH is building database that will catalog information on clinical trials done for the FDA regulated products. Information such as demographics, safety and efficacy will be included in the database.
Steve Schaub-OW is moving forward with microbial risk assessment guidelines, working with EPA's Risk Assessment Forum. Draft guidelines are expected within 3-4 years. Guidelines will be across the board, including all mediums, and all microbes.
Ivor Knight- Office of Ag at USAID is being restructured. It may have an Office of Food Safety and Environmental Health and Nutrition. More funds will probably go into food safety preparedness, under trade capacity building, and market access.
10:30:10:40am: Audrey presented RAC orientation notes and the Annual Plan update.
10:40-10:50am: Angelo passed out papers by Jim Chen.
NCTR statisticians, in collaboration with those at the EPA, developed
an improved method for cumulative risk assessment from exposure
to multiple chemicals that have a common mechanism of toxicity. The
method will allow a better risk assessment for exposure to multiple
chemicals over time.
To download PDF files visit: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02732300
Chen et. al., Using dose addition to estimate cumulative risks
from exposures to multiple chemicals. Regulatory Toxicology and
Pharmacology 34:35-41 (2001).
Chen et. al., Incorporating model uncertainties along with data
uncertainties in microbial risk assessment. Regulatory Toxicology
and Pharmacology 32:68-72 (2000)
10:50-11:00am: ADE work group formation [Wes spent a
short time recruiting for this group.] The ADE workgroup needs
to come up with a project topic. Suggested topics included: sensitive
subpopulations, organophosphorous, common modes of actions. schematic
models and methodological models.
The work group now includes Wes Long, Rich Canady, Eileen Choffnes,
Micheal McElvaine, Jacqueline McQueen, Kathrine Hollinger and Vivian
Turner.
11:00-11:45am: ERS presentation economic valuation methods
(annual plan item 1C) Fred Kuchler (ERS) made introductory remarks
about ERS' interest in finding appropriate dollar values for food
safety risk reduction. Presentations by investigators from each
of two co-op agreements with ERS:
Kevin Haninger (Harvard University) and Michael Margolis (Resources
for the Future) discussed their co-op's progress and survey plans.
[Copies of Kevin Haninger's survey were passed out to the RAC.]
11:45-1:00: lunch
1:00-2:00: Presentation on BSE risk assessment (FSIS-Allen
Hogue)
The final report was delivered Nov 30th, and can be found on the
FSIS website. APHIS and FSIS are working with Harvard to develop
a web based presentation, contact Linda Detwiler for information.
Harvard will provide training on the use of the model to selected
federal agencies.
2:00-2:45: Status of International Conference program
and planning.
The Conference program was discussed. Each session's speaker list
was reviewed. RAC members were given a last opportunity to submit
any topics or speakers that they felt we should really try to include.
Session organizers are in the process of contacting speakers. Once
funding commitments are finalized, formal letters of invitation
will be mailed to the speakers.
2:45- 3:00: Discuss public meeting
Wes presented the public meeting work group's idea to have an open
house format meeting. The date of the public meeting has not been
set, but will likely be held in September. Agencies were asked
if they would agree to make a poster and attend the meeting.
3:00-4:00: MRAF work group report
Steve Schaub and Audrey Ichida presented the latest information
regarding Charlie Yoe's work on the microbiological risk assessment
framework project. Dr. Yoe has conducted a pre-test of the project
and plans a pilot for mid Dec.
In Attendance:
Mary Bartholomew (phone) CVM
John Bowers CFSAN
Richard Canady CFSAN
Eileen Choffnes OPPTS
Mary Fox ORACBA
Audrey Ichida JIFSAN
Ivor Knight USAID
Dennis Lang (phone) NIH
Wes Long CFSAN/JIFSAN
Carol Maczka (phone) FSIS
Tanya Roberts ERS
Angela Ruple (phone) NMFS
Steve Schaub OW
Mark Tamplin ARS
Mary Torrence CSREES
Angelo Turturro NCTR
Robert Webb DOD/VSA
Richard Whiting CFSAN
John Cicmanec (phone) EPA
Anne Courtney (phone) FSIS
Sherri Dennis (phone) CFSAN
Allan Hogue FSIS
Kathrine Hollinger OWH
Ron Lorentzen CFSAN
Marianna Milliotis CFSAN
Janet Perry ERS
Mark Walderhaug CFSAN
Agencies represented:
Veterinary Service Activity (DOD/VSA)
Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances
(EPA/OPPTS)
Office of Water (EPA/OW)
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (DHHS/FDA/CFSAN)
Center for Veterinary Medicine (DHHS/FDA/CVM)
National Center for Toxicological Research (DHHS/FDA/NCTR)
Office of Women's Health (DHHS/FDA/OWH)
National Institutes of Health (DHHS/NIH)
Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
(JIFSAN)
National Marine Fisheries Service (DOC/NMFS)
United States Agency for International Development (USAID/G/EGAD/AFS)
Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS)
Cooperative State Research, Education, & Extension
Service (USDA/CSREES)
Economic Research Service (USDA/ERS)
Food Safety Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS)
Office of Risk Assessment and Cost Benefit Analysis
(USDA/ORACBA)
