National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) Review

As part of the FSA’s commitment to ensure food is safe and is what it says it is, the FSA undertakes food safety risk assessments in line with the internationally recognised ‘Codex Working Principles for Risk Analysis for Food Safety’. A key component of food safety risk assessment is exposure assessment, which estimates the amount of a hazard consumed through the diet. Exposure assessment combines food consumption data with information on the concentrations of substances such as contaminants, food additives or pesticide residues in food to estimate the levels consumers may be exposed to.   UK consumption data is primarily obtained from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). The NDNS is a rolling programme of surveys designed to assess the diet, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general population of the UK. The NDNS is a co funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and FSA. This project is to investigate potential changes to the methodology used in the NDNS, to optimize the data collected for use in exposure assessment for food safety risk assessment, while ensuring the survey continues to meet the requirements of other stakeholders.