Analysis of multivariate extreme intakes of food chemicals

Abstract
A recently published multivariate Extreme Value Theory (EVT) model (He ernan and Tawn, 2004) is applied to the estimation of population risks associated with dietary intake of pesticides. The objective is to quantify the risk of pesticide intake above a limit level and relate it to the consumption of specific primary products. As an example daily intakes of the pesticide iprodione from three products (lettuce, grape and currant) are considered. The method models and extrapolates simultaneous intakes of pesticide, and estimates probability of exceeding unobserved large intakes. The multivariate analysis allows to find whether the avoidance of certain food combinations in the daily diet would significantly reduce the risk of a critical exposure to the pesticide. We argue that the presented method can be an important contribution for exposure assessment studies.
Year
2006
Category
Refereed journal