ARS | Publication request: How EPA Uses Dietary data from USDA for Exposure Assessments

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 10, 2009
Publication Date: April 17, 2009
Citation: Hrdy, D.E., Lemar, L.E., Holden, J.M. 2009. How EPA uses dietary data from USDA for exposure assessments. 33rd National Nutrient Databank Conference, April 17, 2009, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Technical Abstract: Background: To present the procedures the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) uses to update the estimates of dietary exposure to pesticides using the consumption data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey, What We Eat in America and methodology adapted from the National Nutrient Databank for Food Composition. Description: The EPA’s OPP is responsible for ensuring the safety of pesticides. A significant activity of OPP is the evaluation of dietary exposure to pesticides. Evaluating dietary exposure to pesticides involves combining data on food consumption with data on pesticide residues on food. Currently, pesticide residue exposure is calculated by multiplying residue by consumption level. Residue data for any particular raw agricultural commodity may come from field trial data, the US Food and Drug Administration surveillance/monitoring data, or from USDA/Pesticide Data Program (PDP) monitoring data. Dietary consumption data used currently are based on food consumption data from the USDA's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) from 1994 through 1996, and the 1998 Supplemental Children's Survey data. More current data on dietary consumption (1999 through 2006) are now publicly available through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey's (NHANES)"What We Eat in America" (WWEIA) food consumption survey. The OPP is collaborating with the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) to modify the NHANES, WWEIA data from its current "foods, as eaten" basis (e.g., lasagna, ice cream) to a "food commodity” basis (e.g., milk, beef, wheat flour, tomatoes). NDL’s formulation estimation program, a module in the USDA National Nutrient Databank System, is being adapted to the EPA program. Standard procedures to estimate ingredient amounts, including standard recipes are being developed by the EPA. Conclusion: This presentation will focus on how EPA currently estimates dietary exposure; how NHANES, WWEIA data is converted to the format used by OPP; and how EPA's switch from CSFII to NHANES, WWEIA is being conducted. This change in food consumption patterns may have implications for OPP’s dietary exposure estimates, estimated by EPA's calculations.