Carcinogens in Food: Opportunities and Challenges for Regulatory Toxicology

The risk of developing cancer from carcinogens occurring in food is of widespread interest to scientific researchers, food policymakers and food surveillance institutions, as well as to the general public. When evaluating the risk of carcinogenic food contaminants or carcinogenic foodstuff per se (e.g., alcoholic beverages), the level of scientific evidence should be reflected more clearly. In the past, interest often focused on ‘fashionable’ agents with only moderate levels of evidence of their carcinogenicity (e.g., acrylamide or furan); whereas agents with the highest level of evidence (e.g., substances classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as group 1, being ‘carcinogenic to humans’) were sometimes disregarded. For example, important carcinogens such as arsenic (a contaminant in drinking water), cadmium and other heavy metals, but also benzene, were not even mentioned in a recent review article about carcinogenic food contaminants. Research, control and prevention strategies for carcinogenic agents in food should comprise a risk-oriented approach and should not lose sight of agents that pose an immediate and scientifically quantifiable threat. Suitable strategies include the use of quantitative risk assessments, for example the use of the Margin of Exposure (MOE)