RISK CHARACTERISTICS FOR BABY’S HEALTH USING FOOD PRODUCTS IN EMERGENCY AREAS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess individual health risk caused by food consumption, as well as possibility of use and calculation of safe amount of food for MRE package provided by Emergencies Ministry officers to kids under 3 years old in disaster zones. The samples studied include dry instant porridge, canned meat, liver pate, homogenized fruit and vegetable purees, sea biscuits, and bottled water of various brands. The paper shows that all tested food samples meet requirements regarding food safety and quality. Individual children's lifetime health risk caused by the consumption of tested foods and drinking water is estimated as (0,5-10,0) -10-5 for canned meat, (0,004-0,068) -10-5 for fruit and vegetable purees and drinking water for babies, (3,4-68,0) -10-5 for dry instant porridges, (0,023 0,28) -10-5 for liver pate, (0,068-1,74) -10-5 for sea biscuits, (0,004-0,42) -10-5 for bottled water. Calculation of estimated risk for individual showed that some samples could be classed among high risk products since risk calculation method takes into consideration all possible negative effects (carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, embryogenic, etc.) of pollutants on a child's organism. Therefore, when choosing canned food suppliers for MRE package, risks of this food consumption along with sanitary and hygienic requirements must be considered. It is calculated that one MRE package per day for children should contain approximately 100 g of porridge, 50 g of canned meat, 50 g of vegetable puree, 150 g of liver pate and 100 g of sea biscuits. This information should be on the package label.