"Food hazard risk assessment and risk ranking enable policy makers to develop appropriate regulatory and other risk management approaches to control the most important hazards in food products. The objective of this study was to determine the microbial and chemical hazards associated with three different types of apple products and rank their health burden on humans using various risk metrics. This research included data from foodborne illness outbreaks associated with apple and apple juice products from 1991 through 2015. Risk analysis and ranking of chemical hazards were conducted using FDA-iRisk 2.0. Microbiological hazard risk assessment and ranking were conducted using average numbers of outbreak-associated foodborne illness cases per year, adjusted for under-diagnosis. The risk ranking metrics used were disability adjusted life years (DALY) per year, DALY per consumer or eating occasion, and mean risk of illness. Apple cider consumption was associated with the greatest total DALY per year, with 13.18 DALY per year reflecting approximately 73% of the total DALYs per year predicted for consumption of all foods assessed in this study. The primary health concern with apple juice or fresh apples was inorganic arsenic, which accounted for 4.84 and 0.14 DALYs per year for apple juice and fresh apples, respectively. The results demonstrated that apple and apple juice products have relatively low DALYs associated with their consumption in the US."--Page ii.
Read
