Risk Assessment


	The Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis (ORACBA) was established by the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-354, H.R.4271, Section 304). ORACBA began operation on April 15, 1995, in USDA's Office of the Chief Economist. The Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis's (ORACBA) primary role is to ensure that major regulations proposed by USDA are based on sound scientific and economic analysis. A major regulation concerns human, health, safety or the environment and has an annual economic impact of at least $100 million in 1994 dollars. For such regulations, ORACBA conducts a thorough analysis that makes clear the nature of the risk, alternative ways of reducing it, the reasoning that justifies the proposed rule, and a comparison of the likely costs and benefits of reducing the risk. ORACBA will provide guidance and technical assistance, coordinate risk analysis work across the Department, and certify that statutory requirements are met.



	ORACBA REPRESENTED AT 2010 SOCIETY FOR RISK ANALYSIS ANNUAL MEETING, BALTIMORE, MD, DECEMBER 2009 Linda Abbott, ORACBA Risk Scientist, presented her poster "Exposure to Nanoscale Materials Via the Oral Route," L. Abbott, K. Dearfield and S. Foggett. and chaired the session "Managing Nanotechnology." Mark Powell, ORACBA Risk Scientist, presented "Considering the Duration of Listeria monocytogenes Growth Challenge Studies" and chaired the session "Soup, Salad and Beyond: Methods to Management of Food Safety." Eliza Mojduszka, ORACBA Economist, presented her poster "Food Product Safety and Competition in the US Food Retail Industry." BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS IN FOOD: GUIDELINES" released by Joint Food and Agriculture organization/World Health Organization Expect Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA). The report is part of a series intended to provide guidance on microbiological risk assessment to the Codex Alimentarius commission. Mark Powell, ORACBA, served as a drafting group member. ASSURING SAFETY OF IMPORTED FOODS: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ROLES IN A RISK-BASED SYSTEM The Food Safety Research Consortium (FSRC) and the Emerging Pathogens Institute of the University of Florida announce a free two-day workshop, February 1-2, 2010, that will bring together participants from the private sector, government, academia, and advocacy communities to discuss the challenges and opportunities of a risk-based approach to food import safety built on coordinated roles of government and industry. The goal of the workshop is to make concrete and actionable recommendations on how such a system might be implemented. FDA FOOD CODE 2009: JOINT INTRODUCTION TO THE 2009 FOOD CODE The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are pleased to release the 2009 edition of the Food Code. The Food Code is a model code and reference document for state, city, county and tribal agencies that regulate restaurants, retail food stores, vending operations and foodservice operations in institutions such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes and child care centers. RISK COMMUNICATION BOOK UPDATED FOR 2009 The fourth edition of a popular risk communication book is available now. “Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks,” by Regina Lundgren and Andrea McMakin, was published recently by Wiley-IEEE Press. The handbook guides readers on understanding, planning, implementing, and evaluating risk communication activities, with a soalid grounding of theory and research. This latest edition updates readers on laws, approaches, messages, technology-baeed applications such as social media, and international risk communication.

	Last Modified: 01/12/2010


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