Expert Elicitation for Estimation of the Proportion Foodborne for Selected Microbial Pathogens in New Zealand.

To estimate the proportions of human cases of nine specific microbial diseases in New Zealand that were due to transmission by food and the proportion of the foodborne burden that was due to transmission by some specific foods. Subjective probability distributions were elicited from 10 food safety experts using a modified Delphi approach. In addition to uniform weighting of experts' opinions, two techniques were used to measure individual's expertise; self-assessment and performance-based weighting using Cooke's classical method.

Predictive modelling of interventions to improve iodine intake in New Zealand.

Objective: The potential effects of four interventions to improve iodine intakes of six New Zealand population groups are assessed.

Design: A model was developed to estimate iodine intake when (i) bread is manufactured with or without iodized salt, (ii) recommended foods are consumed to augment iodine intake, (iii) iodine supplementation as recommended for pregnant women is taken and (iv) the level of iodization for use in bread manufacture is doubled from 25-65 mg to 100 mg iodine/kg salt.

Setting: New Zealanders have low and decreasing iodine intakes and low iodine status.

Risk ranking for foodborne microbial hazards in New Zealand: burden of disease estimates.

Priority setting for food safety management at a national level requires risks to be ranked according to defined criteria. In this study, two approaches (disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and cost of illness (COI)) were used to generate estimates of the burden of disease for certain potentially foodborne diseases (campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, listeriosis (invasive, perinatal, and nonperinatal), infection with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), yersiniosis, and norovirus infection) and their sequelae in New Zealand. A modified Delphi approach was used to estimate the food-attributable proportion for these diseases.

Ranking the risk of pesticide dietary intake.

Pesticide residues in various foods were assessed for the relative risk to the consumer. The analysis took into account criteria such as a pesticide's toxicity, usage, frequency of occurrence in foods, frequency of Maximum Residue Level (MRL) exceedances, and the overall risks of specific pesticide/food combinations. Examination of the top ten ranked pesticides for each criterion showed that there are no trends of commonality.

Dietary exposure to xenoestrogens in New Zealand.

Continuing evidence of the feminising effects of xenoestrogens on a range of wildlife species increases the need to assess the human health risk of these estrogen mimics. We have estimated the exposure of New Zealand males, females and young men to a range of naturally occurring and synthetic xenoestrogens found in food. Only estrogenic compounds that act by interaction with the estrogen receptor have been included.