The Philippine government considers food safety of primary importance and this is supported through establishment and passage of Republic Act No. 10611, Food Safety Act 2013. The act aims to strengthen the regulatory system in the country to protect consumer health and facilitate local and international trade. One of the general guiding principles of the law is the science-based risk analysis for the development of food safety standards and regulations in the Philippines. Although the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health are mandated to regulate food safety in the country, the Department of Science and Technology supports food safety through the provision of science-based evidence for risk management decisions. In support of harmonized risk assessment activities in the country and globally, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), where one of its functions is to conduct national nutrition surveys every five years, has developed individual food consumption databases for dietary exposure assessment following the Philippines, ASEAN, WHO/FAO data formats for food classification and food consumption data distribution frequencies.

Many countries conduct Total Diet Studies (TDS) to evaluate the exposure of population groups to chemicals in food and to assess their associated risks (Briguglio, et al., 2015). The harmonized TDS guidelines as described by the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and European Food Safety Authority (WHO/FAO/EFSA, 2011) involve sampling of food items from retail markets, cooking the food items as consumed, and analyzing the pooled food items. The concentration data are then combined with individual food consumption data at mean and high percentiles and the dietary exposure is compared to relevant health reference.