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TDS exposure project: Application of the analytic hierarchy process for the prioritization of substances to be analyzed in a total diet study
... Furthermore, we examined group decision making. Danner et al. [72], Lin et al. [91], Papadopoulos et al. [56], Reddy et al. [86], Shojaei et al. [87], Jaberidoost et al. [66], and Hsu et al. [90] explored this topic by taking the geometric mean of the individual weights. Hilgerink et al. [93] and Hummel et al. [94] summarized the individual judgments with geometric means, and then, calculated the group weights. ...
... Very few of the studies (n = 14) examined the robustness of the weights [46,53,56,73,76,78,80,82,86,93,100,101,105,107]. Diaz-Ledezma et al. [107] and Diaz-Ledezma and Parvizi [73] referred to Erkut and Tarimcilar [40], who introduced sensitivity analysis for the AHP. ...
Background:
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), developed by Saaty in the late 1970s, is one of the methods for multi-criteria decision making. The AHP disaggregates a complex decision problem into different hierarchical levels. The weight for each criterion and alternative are judged in pairwise comparisons and priorities are calculated by the Eigenvector method. The slowly increasing application of the AHP was the motivation for this study to explore the current state of its methodology in the healthcare context.
Methods:
A systematic literature review was conducted by searching the Pubmed and Web of Science databases for articles with the following keywords in their titles or abstracts: "Analytic Hierarchy Process," "Analytical Hierarchy Process," "multi-criteria decision analysis," "multiple criteria decision," "stated preference," and "pairwise comparison." In addition, we developed reporting criteria to indicate whether the authors reported important aspects and evaluated the resulting studies' reporting.
Results:
The systematic review resulted in 121 articles. The number of studies applying AHP has increased since 2005. Most studies were from Asia (almost 30 %), followed by the US (25.6 %). On average, the studies used 19.64 criteria throughout their hierarchical levels. Furthermore, we restricted a detailed analysis to those articles published within the last 5 years (n = 69). The mean of participants in these studies were 109, whereas we identified major differences in how the surveys were conducted. The evaluation of reporting showed that the mean of reported elements was about 6.75 out of 10. Thus, 12 out of 69 studies reported less than half of the criteria.
Conclusion:
The AHP has been applied inconsistently in healthcare research. A minority of studies described all the relevant aspects. Thus, the statements in this review may be biased, as they are restricted to the information available in the papers. Hence, further research is required to discover who should be interviewed and how, how inconsistent answers should be dealt with, and how the outcome and stability of the results should be presented. In addition, we need new insights to determine which target group can best handle the challenges of the AHP.
... On the other hand, in order to provide more realistic "background" exposure data, (ANSES, 2019) suggested the analysis of foods "as consumed", that is to say washed, peeled and Various studies in several countries, investigating the dietary exposure to TEs, have been carried out using the TDS approach (Ingenbleek et al., 2017;Papadopoulos et al., 2015;Turrini et al., 2018;EFSA, 2011). In France, a TDS allows to underline the necessity to reduce exposure to TEs such as Cd, Al, Ni, As, and Co by a diversified diet (food items and origins) (ANSES, 2019). ...
In Lebanon, the agri-food industry represents 18% of the industrial sector and yet food safety remains a major problem. In this interdisciplinary thesis, we followed the Trace Elements (TEs) in the Lebanese white bread sector "from farm to fork" based on the reality on the ground, and on two links in the sector: (i) the geogenic or anthropogenic origin of TEs present in the soil and their transfer to the wheat grain, for which 10 plots cultivated in wheat, covering the diversity of soils, irrigation practices and anthropogenic environments of the central Bekaa were chosen ; (ii) the exposure of populations to TEs present in bread, for which a survey of consumption habits across Lebanon was carried out on 992 individuals (children, adolescents, women and men) and the quantification of TEs present in bread from the 3 biggest bakeries.A new microwave digestion with H2SO4 + H2O2 combined with flame - Atomic Absorption Spectrometry measurement was validated with Certified Reference Material and after comparison with Hydrofluoric-based digestion. It allows routine but accurate quantification of TEs As, Cd, Cu, Co, Cr and Pb, “green” and inexpensive, suitable for calcareous or calcium-saturated Mediterranean soils.In soils, the total TE contents and the bioavailable quantity by DTPA extraction are not correlated. Thus, the B5 and B8 sites have the highest total contents, probably of geogenic origin, but B8 is richer in bioavailable forms linked to industrial activities. Likewise, the B3 and B9 sites, which have low to medium total TE contents, have on the contrary the highest bioavailable TE contents of anthropogenic origin.In wheat, the level of Cd, As and Pb was studied in roots, stems, leaves and grains. The As contents in grains are high and correlate with the DTPA-extractable As in soil, while the Pb contents in the grain are very low. The Cd content in grains is close to the threshold values. Root Cd content correlates with extractable Cd and translocation factors are often greater than 1, showing that Cd is easily transferred to grain. The high Cd content (20 mg kg-1) of phosphate fertilizers imported into Lebanon is the plausible source of this contamination, hence the importance of its monitoring.The Lebanese bread consumption survey showed that white bread is consumed the most and men the greatest consumers (282 g d-1). Arsenic, Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Ni and Pb have been analyzed in white bread from the 3 most consumed brands. There is no health risk with respect to the elements Hg, Cd, Cr and Co, with the exception of the 95th percentile of 6-9 years old children. Exposure to nickel, on the other hand, showed an excess of total food intake up to 4 times for the most exposed populations (95th percentile). There are food safety issues related to As and Pb because the exposure margins are very low.Given the current crisis in Lebanon where it will be necessary to rely more on local production, it is important to monitor the levels of As, Cd and Pb in wheat, the relationships with the soil and environmental factors, to assess the risks to human health and identify ways to limit potential exposure to metals and metalloids. To our knowledge, this is the first time that exposure to Arsenic has been studied in the Lebanese population. These observations need to be confirmed, and there is an urgent need to determine the speciation of inorganic arsenic forms in bread.
... Multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) technologies were employed to assign weightings and allow decision makers to set priorities, e.g. analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with expert judgment in a total diet study (Papadopoulos et al., 2015), and the desirability index for the PBT (persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity) assessment under the REACH directives (Pizzo et al., 2016). Only few of studies applied factorization approaches to reduce the dimensionality of scoring system, e.g., non-negative matrix factorization in health effect prioritization of environmental chemicals , and principal component analysis (PCA) to prioritize agricultural pesticides used in South Africa (Dabrowski et al., 2014). ...
Screening and prioritizing hazardous substances in groundwater is crucial to monitor and control groundwater quality. Total of 283 substances were determined in 213 groundwater samples from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region during 2019-2020. 184 substances were screened as candidates. 22 prioritizing indicators were evaluated and scored for the candidates to reflect their occurrence, mobility, persistence, bioaccumulation, acute and chronic ecotoxicities with different trophic levels, and long-term human health effects. Multi-attribute decision-making technologies were applied to prioritize these candidates, including analytic hierarchy process (AHP), TOPSIS and VIKOR. Greater weightings in AHP were assigned to attributes of occurrence and acute toxicity by experts' judgment. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to transform initial matrix with the 22 indicators into an orthogonalized matrix with 6 principal components, which represented general toxicity to aquatic organism and mammal, bioaccumulation, carcinogenicity & mutagenicity, persistence , and teratogenicity & endocrine, respectively. VIKOR and TOPSIS results were similar, but different from the AHP ranking. Two filter criteria harmonized their difference. Twenty-three substances were proposed as the priority substance with high hazard and potential exposure, and nitrate-nitrogen and ammonia-nitrogen were selected as additional priority substance frequently and extensively exceeding official groundwater quality standard on the regional scale.
... The choice of analyte groups resulted from a consultation among national stakeholders from Benin, Cameroon, Mali and Nigeria, and was discussed and agreed within a dedicated scientific committee, without applying the methodology proposed by the EU TDS Exposure project (Papadopoulos et al., 2015). ...
For the first time, a multi-centre Total Diet Study was carried out in Benin, Cameroon, Mali and Nigeria. We collected and prepared as consumed 528 typical fatty foods from those areas and pooled these subsamples into 44 composites samples. These core foods were tested for a wide spectrum of POPs, including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), bromi-nated flame-retardants (BFRs), organochlorine compounds (OCs), perfluoro alkyl substances (PFAS) and chlorinated flame retardants (CFRs). The POPs contamination levels were similar or lower than those reported in total diet studies previously conducted worldwide. In most cases, core foods belonging to fish food group presented higher POPs concentrations than the other food groups. Interestingly, we observed a difference in both contamination profile and concentration for smoked fish compared to non-smoked fish. Such finding suggests that the smoking process itself might account for a large proportion of the contamination. Further investigation would require the assessment of combustion materials used to smoke fish as a potential vehicle, which may contribute to the dietary exposure of the studied populations to POPs.
... Trace As (inorganic), Pb, Cd, and Hg are routinely monitored in Europe and other countries (Council of the European Union, 2015aUnion, ,b, 2014Union, , 2011Union, , 2008Union, , 2006, but other inorganic contaminants are not regulated and monitoring data are limited. Recommendations can be generated within the framework of total diet studies (TDS) according to previously published protocols (WHO, 2006, EFSA, 2011aMoy andVannoort, 2013, Ingenbleek et al., 2017;Papadopoulos et al., 2015;Turrini et al., 2017). TDSs are endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been tasked with assessing the chemical contamination of food prepared as consumed (EFSA, 2011b;FAO/WHO, 2009). ...
This paper reports occurrence data related to 30 trace elements in food composite samples from a multi-regional Sub-Saharan Africa Total Diet Study. Herein, 2700 samples grouped in 225 food composite samples corresponding to 13 food groups: cereals, tubers, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts/seeds, meat, eggs, fish, milk/dairy, oil/fats, and beverages from eight locations in four countries, namely Benin (Littoral/Borgou), Cameroon (Duala/North), Mali (Bamako/Sikasso), and Nigeria (Lagos/Kano) were prepared as consumed, pooled, and analysed using a validated method based on inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The occurrence data for Al, As, Cd, Hg, and Pb as regulated by the Codex Alimentarius are discussed herein. Although the levels of As, Cd, Hg, and Pb were above the limit of quantification, they were below the maximum limits set by the Codex in most samples analysed. A distinct feature was observed for cereals and tubers, as they were mostly contaminated with Al and Pb. A pilot study regarding the impact of using artisanal cookware (made from recycled aluminium) on the contamination of food samples was performed. Relevant contamination with Al and Pb when cooking tomato samples from Cameroon and Nigeria using artisanal aluminium cookware was compared to that when cooked using stainless-steel.
... MCDA has been applied in many areas such as finance, ecology, drugs, and medical devices. MCDA has also been used in the food context as way to rank chemical or microbiological hazards (Fazil, Rajic, Sanchez, & McEwen, 2008;Papadopoulos et al., 2015;Ruzante et al., 2010;Ruzante, Grieger, Woodward, Lambertini, & Kowalcyk, 2017;U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA], 2015). ...
The preservation of perishable food via refrigeration in the supply chain is essential to extend shelf life and provide consumers with safe food. However, electricity consumed in refrigeration processes has an economical and an environmental impact. This study focuses on the cold chain of cooked ham, including transport, cold room in supermarket, display cabinet, transport by consumer, and domestic refrigerator, and aims to predict the risk for human health associated with Listeria monocytogenes, the amount of food wasted due to the growth of spoilage bacteria, and the electrical consumption to maintain product temperature through the cold chain. A set of eight intervention actions were tested to evaluate their impact on the three criteria. Results show that the modification of the thermostat of the domestic refrigerator has a high impact on food safety and food waste and a limited impact on the electrical consumption. Inversely, the modification of the airflow rate in the display cabinet has a high impact on electrical consumption and a limited impact on food safety and food waste. A cost–benefit analysis approach and two multicriteria decision analysis methods were used to rank the intervention actions. These three methodologies show that setting the thermostat of the domestic refrigerator to 4 °C presents the best compromise between the three criteria. The impact of decisionmaker preferences (criteria weight) and limitations of these three approaches are discussed. The approaches proposed by this study may be useful in decision making to evaluate global impact of intervention actions in issues involving conflicting outputs.
... In particular, fish and seafood are a relevant source of heavy metals and metalloids, which can spread though the food chain and accumulate in human body reaching levels which could represent a potential risk to human health (Arslan et al., 2017;Chiocchetti et al., 2017;Copat et al., 2013;Kaya and Turkoglu, 2017;Vinceti et al., 2013). Arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) are two of the heavy metals of major environmental and toxicological concern (ATSDR, 2012a; b; Donaldson et al., 2010;Papadopoulos et al., 2015). ...
Regular consumption of fish is generally recommended by authorities because fish is an important source of essential nutrients. However, the presence of potentially toxic contaminants in fish has raised many concerns about the food's safety for human health. In the present study, we used a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to assess the dietary habits of a representative sample of 719 individuals (319 males and 400 females) aged 18-87 years residing in Northern Italy. We estimated weekly dietary intakes of Arsenic (As) and Mercury (Hg), and we compared them with safety standards set by the European Food Safety Authority. In this population, fish was the main contributor to As and Hg intake. The highest levels of As were in sardine, sole/flounder and cephalopods, and of Hg in the biggest, predatory fish. About the other foods, cereals were the second contributor to the intake of these elements, especially rice for As and bread for Hg, and high levels of As and Hg were also found in mushrooms, coffee and wine. Average weekly intake of both contaminants was below recommended safety limits.
... The choice of analyte groups was made by the national stakeholders (e.g. 30e50 food safety professionals per country), and was discussed with a scientific committee, without applying the methodology proposed by the EU TDS Exposure project (Papadopoulos et al., 2015). ...
... In general, the teaching evaluation involving teachers, students and teaching management in three areas, in the past focused on the development of measures to grasp the quality of teaching and teacher education management from the perspective of the subject from the teaching activities not pay enough attention on the evaluation of students, and students directly involved in teaching the whole process of teachers teaching ideas, feelings teaching attitude, teaching methods and teaching effectiveness deepest, most say, therefore, in the background to the reform of college English as a carrier network and multimedia teaching mode, explore student classroom teaching evaluation body has important practical significance [5,6]. The rapid development of the network so that people can be very easy to get a lot of information from around the world, the network speed up exchanges and international cooperation at the same time changing the lifestyle and values of the people [7]. Human subjectivity increasingly highlight the multicultural society has gradually become the mainstream of cultural forms. ...
... EFSA suggested that Total Diet Studies (TDSs) provide the most accurate estimates of mean contamination by the chemicals in the food consumed by the population or collective group of individuals (FAO/WHO/EFSA, 2011). As TDSs consider total exposure from whole diets and are based on food contamination 'as consumed' rather than contamination from raw commodities, they are considered to ensure a more realistic exposure measure than exposure studies based on monitoring programs and surveillance data (Papadopoulos et al., 2015). Within the general framework of chemical risk assessment, a difficult step in dietary exposure assessment is the handling of concentration data reported to be below the limit of detection (LOD) of the analytical method. ...
Most fungi are able to produce several mycotoxins simultaneously and, consequently, to contaminate a wide variety of foodstuffs. Therefore, the risk of human co-exposure to multiple mycotoxins is real, raising a growing concern about their potential impact on human health. Besides, government and industry regulations are usually based on individual toxicities, and do not take into account the complex dynamics associated with interactions between co-occurring groups of mycotoxins. The present work assembles, for the first time, the challenges posed by the likelihood of human co-exposure to these toxins and the possibility of interactive effects occurring after absorption, towards knowledge generation to support a more accurate human risk assessment. Regarding hazard assessment, a physiologically-based framework is proposed in order to infer the health effects from exposure to multiple mycotoxins in food, including knowledge on the bioaccessibility, toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of single and combined toxins. The prioritisation of the most relevant mixtures to be tested under experimental conditions that attempt to mimic human exposure and the use of adequate mathematical approaches to evaluate interactions, particularly concerning the combined genotoxicity, were identified as the main challenges for hazard assessment. Regarding exposure assessment, the need of harmonised food consumption data, availability of multianalyte methods for mycotoxin quantification, management of left-censored data, use of probabilistic models and multibiomarker approaches are highlighted, in order to develop a more precise and realistic exposure assessment. To conclude, further studies on hazard and exposure assessment of multiple mycotoxins, using harmonised methodologies, are crucial towards an improvement of data quality and a more reliable and robust risk characterisation, which is central for risk management and, consequently, to prevent mycotoxins-associated adverse effects. A deep understanding of the nature of interactions between multiple mycotoxins will contribute to draw real conclusions on the health impact of human exposure to mycotoxin mixtures.
Food can be a significant source of chemical exposures that are potentially harmful to humans. These chemicals can be intentionally added to food, such as food additives, pesticides and veterinary drugs. Other chemicals can inadvertently enter the food supply from natural sources, environmental contamination, processing, packaging and other means. To effectively address these potential hazards, risk assessment has been developed to characterize the risk and to assist risk management strategies. Risk assessment combines knowledge of the nature and potency of the chemical (hazard characterization) with an estimate of exposure to that chemical (exposure assessment) resulting in characterizing the risk of a chemical (risk characterization). In the case of added chemicals, such as food additives, pesticides and veterinary drugs, a risk assessment is performed prior to marketing and the chemical is monitored post-marketing to confirm compliance with applicable regulations governing its use. Current methods and challenges in estimating the exposure to foodborne chemicals are reviewed. In particular, the application of total diet studies as the most cost-effective method to assess exposure to the many chemicals that intentionally or inadvertently appear in the diet is showcased. As examples, the significance of using total diet study evidence to inform policy and management for inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and aflatoxins are illustrated.
The Decision-making is undeniable and is an integral part of in almost all the processes either in the complex form or as a simple procedure. It often refers to the prioritizing (ranking) the alternatives based on several conflicting criteria. To ensure that the process of decision making runs smoothly with minimum errors, multiple criteria decision-making abbreviated as ''MCDM'' is used for obtaining the solution. The present work emphasized on the weighing methods, an important aspect in MCDM methods , that accurately determines the relative importance of each criterion. The relative importance of each criterion is determined by a set of preferences, called weights, represented between 0 and 1. The weights of criteria influence the outcome of any decision-making process, so it is essential to highlight the significance of weighing methods in determining the criteria preference. In literature, researchers have reported various weighing methods for calculating the relative weights of criteria used for ranking the alternatives. The present study, provides an overview of the some popular weighing methods applicable to the MCDM process and also shows the performance of these methods through a case study.
Screening and prioritizing hazardous substances in groundwater is crucial to monitor and control groundwater quality. Total of 283 substances were determined in 213 groundwater samples from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region during 2019-2020. 184 substances were screened as candidates. 22 prioritizing indicators were evaluated and scored for the candidates to reflect their occurrence, mobility, persistence, bioaccumulation, acute and chronic ecotoxicities with different trophic levels, and long-term human health effects. Multi-attribute decision-making technologies were applied to prioritize these candidates, including analytic hierarchy process (AHP), TOPSIS and VIKOR. Greater weightings in AHP were assigned to attributes of occurrence and acute toxicity by experts’ judgement. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to transform initial matrix with the 22 indicators into an orthogonalized matrix with 6 principal components, which represented general toxicity to aquatic organism and mammal, bioaccumulation, carcinogenicity & mutagenicity, persistence, and teratogenicity & endocrine, respectively. VIKOR and TOPSIS results were similar, but different from the AHP ranking. Two filter criteria harmonized their difference. Twenty-three substances were proposed as the priority substance with high hazard and potential exposure, and nitrate-nitrogen and ammonia-nitrogen were selected as additional priority substance frequently and extensively exceeding official groundwater quality standard on the regional scale.
The first Total Diet Study (TDS) was carried out in Portugal using harmonised procedures developed under the TDS-Exposure project. This publication describes in detail the TDS planning, sample collection and preparation filling a gap found in literature. TDS food list (1070 items) by food group for 18-74 years olds was derived using 24h recall food consumption survey data. Of the 164 TDS samples defined based on FoodEx2, the most represented belonged to ‘Composite dishes’ (21%) and ‘Fish and Fish products’ (15%). A total of 227 TDS samples (12 subsamples each), were collected (2014-2016) in Greater Lisbon region as 126 ‘national’, 17 ‘regional non-seasonal’ and 21 ‘regional seasonal’. Seasonal samples were mostly fruits, vegetables and some fish. Subsamples were prepared as consumed, pooled, homogenised and stored at -18 °C. The harmonised procedures used allow comparison of exposure assessment with other countries and evaluation of exposure trends if TDS are used.
Dietary exposure of the German adult population to the elements aluminium, copper, mercury (and as methylmercury), manganese and lead were assessed using data from the first total diet study (TDS) in Germany. In this pilot TDS, performed 2014–2015, 246 food samples were purchased in the Berlin area, prepared ‘as consumed’, and subsequently analysed. Dietary exposure for the German adult population between 14 and 80 years of age was estimated by combining TDS data with individual consumption data from the German National Consumption Survey II (NVS II). Estimated mean and high-level dietary exposure values showed that none of the elements analysed exceeded toxicological reference values; neither was there an undersupply of essential elements. Assessments for methylmercury and lead in women of child-bearing age, in particular, showed no considerable elevated intake levels.
Pear peels are seen as potentially valuable for their low-cost beneficial components content such as polyphenols. These may reveal acrylamide (AA) mitigation effect and thus their application in a susceptible food matrix, such as bread, should be considered. Aiming to assess the AA reduction potential of Rocha pear peels in bread and the effects on its sensory quality, two types of bread highly consumed in Portugal - wheat (WB) and rye (RB) – were assayed with the extract of these by-products, in two forms aqueous [a] and dry [d]. Eight bread batches were produced (4 WB; 4 RB); each composed of one control sample and five replicates added with extract. The process included controlled fermentation, and cooking in a traditional oven (TO) and convection oven (CO). Hedonic evaluation was made to samples of each batch. Overall, slight differences were observed for WB and RB hedonic evaluation between the control sample and those with both extract forms. Lower scores were observed in both bread types baked in CO, with [d] comparing with the control; for bread with [a], oven influence varied; higher scores for WB in CO and for RB baked in TO, comparing with the control. Regarding AA reduction, the highest mitigation rate was accomplished by the [d] in WB cooked in a CO, 27.3%. However, for RB the best formulation was obtained with [d] in the TO, 19.2%. These results support the importance of selecting the best baking process according to the varieties of bread and AA reduction.
A total diet study (TDS) provides representative and realistic data for assessing the dietary intake of chemicals, such as contaminants and residues, and nutrients, at a population level. Reproducing the diet through collection of customarily consumed foods and their preparation as habitually eaten is crucial to ensure representativeness, i.e., all relevant foods are included and all potential dietary sources of the substances investigated are captured. Having this in mind, a conceptual framework for building a relevant food-shopping list was developed as a research task in the European Union’s 7th Framework Program project, ‘Total Diet Study Exposure’ (TDS-Exposure), aimed at standardising methods for food sampling, analyses, exposure assessment calculations and modelling, priority foods, and selection of chemical contaminants. A stepwise approach following the knowledge translation (KT) model for concept analysis is proposed to set up a general protocol for the collection of food products in a TDS in terms of steps (characterisation of the food list, development of the food-shopping list, food products collection) and pillars (background documentation, procedures, and tools). A simple model for structuring the information in a way to support the implementation of the process, by presenting relevant datasets, forms to store inherent information, and folders to record the results is also proposed. Reproducibility of the process and possibility to exploit the gathered information are two main features of such a system for future applications.
A Quality Management Framework to improve quality and harmonization of Total Diet Study practices in Europe was developed within the TDS-Exposure Project. Seventeen processes were identified and hazards, Critical Control Points and associated preventive and corrective measures described. The Total Diet Study process was summarized in a flowchart divided into planning and practical (sample collection, preparation and analysis; risk assessment analysis and publication) phases. Standard Operating Procedures were developed and implemented in pilot studies in five organizations. The flowchart was used to develop a quality framework for Total Diet Studies that could be included in formal quality management systems. Pilot studies, operated by four project partners, were visited by project assessors who reviewed implementation of the proposed framework and identified areas that could be improved. The quality framework developed can be the starting point for any Total Diet Study centre and can be used within existing formal quality management approaches.
A Total Diet Study (TDS) consists of selecting, collecting and analysing commonly consumed foods to obtain concentration data of different chemical compounds in foods as eaten. A TDS food list summarises the most consumed foods and represents the dietary habits of the general population of the country under study. The work reported here aimed to investigate whether TDS food lists that were initially designed for the whole population of the country under study, also sufficiently cover the dietary pattern of specific sub-populations that are extra vulnerable for certain contaminants. The work was performed using data of three European countries; Czech Republic, France and the UK. Each national food consumption database was combined with the corresponding national TDS food list (containing 336, 212 and 119 food items for Czech Republic, France and the UK, respectively). The data were aggregated on the highest level of hierarchy of FoodEx-1, a pan-European food classification system, including 20 main FoodEx-1 groups. For the group "milk and dairy products", the coverage of the consumption by the food list was investigated for more refined sub-groups. For each food group or sub-group and country, the average percentage of coverage of the diet by the national TDS food list was calculated for different sub-populations, including children versus adults, women versus men, vegetarians versus non-vegetarians and women of childbearing age versus older women. The average diet of the different sub-populations was sufficiently covered by the food list of the Czech Republic and France. For the UK the average coverage was low, due to a different food coding approach and because food lists were not derived directly from national food consumption data. At the level of the 20 main food groups, differences between the sub-populations with respect to the average coverage of consumption by the TDS food list were minimal. The differences were more pronounced when looking in detail at the coverage of the dairy consumption. TDS food lists based on the mean consumption of the general population are also applicable to study the chemical exposure of different sub-populations e.g. children, women of childbearing age and vegetarians. This lowers the effort when performing a TDS.
Lead occurs primarily in the inorganic form in the environment. Human exposure is mainly via food and water, with some via air, dust and soil. In average adult consumers, lead dietary exposure ranges from 0.36 to 1.24, up to 2.43 μg/kg body weight (b.w.) per day in high consumers in Europe. Exposure of infants ranges from 0.21 to 0.94 μg/kg b.w. per day and in children from 0.80 to 3.10 (average consumers), up to 5.51 (high consumers) μg/kg b.w. per day. Cereal products contribute most to dietary lead exposure, while dust and soil can be important non-dietary sources in children. Lead is absorbed more in children than in adults and accumulates in soft tissues and, over time, in bones. Half-lives of lead in blood and bone are approximately 30 days and 10-30 years, respectively, and excretion is primarily in urine and faeces. The Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) identified developmental neurotoxicity in young children and cardiovascular effects and nephrotoxicity in adults as the critical effects for the risk assessment. The respective BMDLs derived from blood lead levels in μg/L (corresponding dietary intake values in μg/kg b.w. per day) were: developmental neurotoxicity BMDL01, 12 (0.50); effects on systolic blood pressure BMDL01, 36 (1.50); effects on prevalence of chronic kidney disease BMDL10, 15 (0.63). The CONTAM Panel concluded that the current PTWI of 25 μg/kg b.w. is no longer appropriate as there is no evidence for a threshold for critical lead-induced effects. In adults, children and infants the margins of exposures were such that the possibility of an effect from lead in some consumers, particularly in children from 1-7 years of age, cannot be excluded. Protection of children against the potential risk of neurodevelopmental effects would be protective for all other adverse effects of lead, in all populations.
As first described in the 1980s, the core food intake model allows a precise assessment of dietary nutrient intake and dietary exposure to contaminants insofar as it reflects the eating habits of a target population and covers the most important foods in terms of consumption, selected nutrient and contaminant contribution. This model has been used to set up the sampling strategy of the second French Total Diet Study (TDS) with the aim of obtaining a realistic panorama of nutrient intakes and contaminant exposure for the whole population, useful for quantitative risk assessment. Data on consumption trends and eating habits from the second French individual food consumption survey (INCA2) as well as data from a 2004 purchase panel of French households (SECODIP) were used to identify the core foods to be sampled. A total of 116 core foods on a national scale and 70 core foods on a regional scale were selected according to (1) the consumption data for adults and children, (2) their consumer rates, and (3) their high contribution to exposure to one or more contaminants of interest. Foods were collected in eight French regions (36 cities) and prepared 'as consumed' to be analysed for their nutritional composition and contamination levels. A total of 20 280 different food products were purchased to make up the 1352 composite samples of core foods to be analysed for additives, environmental contaminants, pesticide residues, trace elements and minerals, mycotoxins and acrylamide. The establishment of such a sampling plan is essential for effective, high-quality monitoring of dietary exposure from a public health point of view.
This paper serves as an introduction to the Analytic Hierarchy Process - A multicriteria decision making approach in which factors are arranged in a hierarchic structure. The principles and the philosophy of the theory are summarized giving general background information of the type of measurement utilized, its properties and applications.
This paper proposes a correlation coefficient maximization approach (CCMA) for estimating priorities from a pairwise comparison matrix. The priorities are supposed to be as highly correlated with each column of a pairwise comparison matrix as possible. Such priorities are not unique and can be determined in different ways. Two optimization models are therefore suggested for determining further the priorities, one of which leads to an analytic solution. Theorems about the CCMA are developed and its potential applications are illustrated with two numerical examples.
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach is widely used for multiple criteria decision-making in construction management. However, the traditional AHP requires that decision makers remain consistent in making pairwise comparisons among numerous decision criteria. Accurate expression of relative preferences on the criteria is difficult for decision makers due to the limitations of the 9-value scale of Saaty. Although Saaty proposed a method to assess the consistency of pairwise comparisons, no automatic mechanism exists for improving the consistency for AHP. This work proposes an adaptive AHP approach (A3) that uses a soft computing scheme, Genetic Algorithms, to recover the real number weightings of the various criteria in AHP and provides a function for automatically improving the consistency ratio of pairwise comparisons. A real world construction management example for determining the weightings of the multiple criteria for a best-value bid is chosen as a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed A3. The application results show that the proposed A3 is superior to the traditional AHP in terms of cost effectiveness, timeliness, and improved decision quality.
Consistent approximations obtained by geometric means ($GM$) and the
principal eigenvector ($EV$), turned out to be close enough for 1,000,000
not-so-inconsistent pairwise comparisons matrices. In this respect both methods
are accurate enough for most practical applications. As the enclosed Table 1
demonstrates, the biggest difference between average deviations of $GM$ and
$EV$ solutions is 0.00019 for the Euclidean metric and 0.00355 for the
Tchebychev metric.
For practical applications, this precision is far better than expected. After
all we are talking, in most cases, about relative subjective comparisons and
one tenth of a percent is usually below our threshold of perception.
Let us consider the Analytic Hierarchy Process in which the labels are structured as graded numbers. To obtain the scoring that corresponds to the best alternative, or the ranking of the alternatives, we need to use a total order for the graded numbers involved in the problem. In this article, we consider a definition of such a total order, which is based upon two subjective aspects: the degree of optimism/pessimism and the liking for risk/safety. As several operations, such as product, quotient, and so forth, of fuzzy numbers do not preserve the triangularity, we also use the graded numbers that are analogous to the fuzzy numbers; however, the operations with graded numbers are carried out as a simple extension of operations with real intervals. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 425–441, 2006.
In the recent years, the environmental problems have reached to a vital extent, which is pushing the boundaries and far beyond daily evaluations. Industrial plants, the energy sources and uncontrolled release of pollutant gases (SO2, CO2 etc.) in the production stage have the greatest share in the occurrence of unfavorable environmental conditions. For this reason, the dimension of the problems that may arise in the production stage of industrial plants is directly related to the selection of facility location. In this study, geographical regions (a total of 7 regions) of our country have been analyzed in terms of environmental values based on their basins and the unfavorable environmental problems that are currently being experienced. Considered as such, with the directives of an expert group composed of nature scientists, the criteria and alternative areas are determined using the data gathered on ecosystem, basin characteristics, and land types. Since the primary goal is to keep the environmental damages at the minimum level, comprehensive definition of the problem is constructed by consultation of the expert group and the criteria are determined. Considering the fact that it will prevent the drawbacks generated by making decisions depending on certain stereotypes toa great extent, ELECTRE (Elimination and Choice Translating Reality English - Elimination Et Choix Traduisant la Realite) method is used to determine in which geographic region our country's industrial plants should be located.
In this paper we examine the impact of membership in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) on trade between PTA members. Rather than considering the impact of PTA membership on the volume of trade we consider the impact of membership on the structure of trade. For a large sample of countries over the period 1962-2000 we find that membership in a PTA is associated with an increase in the extent of intra-industry trade. In addition, we find that the effect of PTA membership on IIT is larger when a PTA is formed between two developed countries.
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