Alternative toxicological methods used in Russia to assess safety of food and non-food products have been reviewed. Along with traditional toxicological methods of monitoring various alternative toxicological study techniques are used to assess product safety. Those are methods using biological test-objects, so-called biological test methods, or in vitro methods which are allowed to be used from the legislative viewpoint. Alternative toxicological methods are based on risk degree assessment of the studied object by response of living organisms (test-objects) to adverse factor exposure. Information resulting from applied bio-testing methods represents combined toxic effect of all toxicants present in the given medium and their simultaneous presence. When assessing product safety by toxicological indices using alternative biological models, general toxic and irritating effects are to be studied and the test-objects are cattle semen, luminescent bacteria, chick egg chorioallantoic membrane, human and animal cell cultures and isolated organs. In vitro methods with cattle semen and luminescent bacteria playing the role of test-objects are also used to assess alcohol product toxicity, in particular spirits and vodkas. Thus, alternative study methods are widely known and commonly used in practice to prove safety of consumer goods and alcohol-containing foodstuffs.

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