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DEEM-FCID/Calendex Software Installer

DEEM-FCID/Calendex

EPA is making the Dietary Exposure Evaluation Model - Food Commodity Intake Database (DEEM-FCID)/Calendex freely available to the public. The public availability of this model helps increase transparency of regulatory decisions.

DEEM-FCID/Calendex software incorporates food consumption data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey)/“What We Eat in America” (NHANES/WWEIA) dietary survey conducted in 2003-2008 and includes the feedback we received from the fall 2011 beta testing. This version of the software – with its use of the newer NHANES/WWEIA dietary data -- will be used for regulatory risk assessments and supersedes the DEEM/Calendex version we had been using, which was based on the Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII) 1994-96/1998.

The DEEM-FCID component of DEEM-FCID/Calendex can be used to estimate dietary intake of toxicants, pesticides, and natural constituents -- in other words for any component of food or water -- to perform chronic and acute exposure assessments. We use the DEEM-FCID component to conduct dietary risk assessments to support the establishment of tolerances for pesticides. In addition to containing more recent consumption data, the new publically available version of this software allows us to look at exposures at each eating occasion rather than grouping the entire day’s food and drink intake at once. We can conduct more refined risk assessments that will help inform regulatory decisions for pesticides.

The Calendex component of DEEM-FCID/Calendex employs a calendar-based approach to evaluating multi-pathway exposures. DEEM-FCID/Calendex can evaluate exposure to chemicals resulting from residues in food or drinking water, and residues in or around the residence. Similar to DEEM-FCID, Calendex uses a probabilistic (Monte-Carlo) based approach to evaluate the distribution of exposure in a way that appropriately combines exposure pathways.

As an additional effort to increase the transparency and public availability of dietary exposure software, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration funded the Joint Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition at the University of Maryland to post on their FoodRisk.org website the consumption, recipe, and associated demographic data files used by DEEM-FCID/Calendex. These raw data files can be downloaded. Exit EPA disclaimer

While the files on the JIFSAN website currently reflect the 2003-2006 NHANES/WWEIA consumption survey data, we anticipate these files being updated over the summer of 2012 to the 2003-2008 data files used in this release of DEEM-FCID/Calendex. In addition, JIFSAN has developed several online applications to ease the process by which information from the raw data files can be accessed and interpreted by the general public.

As a follow-up to the July 2010 Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) meeting in which SHEDS (Stochastic Human Exposure and Dose Simulator)-Multimedia version 3 was reviewed, EPA's Office of Research and Development is releasing version 4 of the SHEDS-Multimedia model on its website. SHEDS-Multimedia is a physically-based probabilistic model that can simulate cumulative (multiple chemicals) or aggregate (single chemical) exposures over time for a population via residential and dietary routes of exposure for a variety of multimedia, multipathway environmental chemicals. Like DEEM-FCID/Calendex, the SHEDS model produces a distribution of estimated exposures for use in exposure and risk assessment, but has more advanced capabilities with respect to analysis and output. SHEDS-Multimedia materials (including residential and dietary module codes, graphical user interfaces, technical manuals, user guides, related publications and presentations, and external peer review information) can be accessed via ORD's SHEDS-Multimedia website.

DEEM-FCID Installation Process

The DEEM-FCID/Calendex software is intended to be downloaded and run from a Personal Computer. Follow the instructions below to install the software onto your PC.

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