Risk Assessment of Marine Toxins

Risk assessment is one of the three elements in the overall method called risk analysis. In addition to risk assessment, risk analysis comprises risk management and risk communication. Risk analysis is the fundamental methodology underlying the establishment of food safety standards. While risk assessments are performed by toxicologists or microbiologists, risk management is performed by persons responsible for regulation and control. It is important that the roles are not mixed and that all the steps in risk analysis are transparent. There should be a functional separation between risk assessment and risk management. This will ensure the scienti c integrity of risk assessment and reduce any con ict of interest. Nevertheless, since risk analysis is an integrated process, interaction between risk assessors and risk managers is important for its outcome. Even though the goal is that food be safe, complete absence of risk is impossible, and society accepts some risks associated with food as reasonable in comparison with other risks in everyday life.