Towards internationally acceptable standards for food additives and contaminants based on the use of risk analysis

Evaluating Hazards Posed by Additives in Food: A Review of Studies Adopting a Risk Assessment Approach

Processing and packaging has increased the use of food additives in the food industry. Some of these additives have associated health risks. This review looks at studies on risk assessment of food additives published between 2000-2015. These studies have majorly focused on synthetic food colors and preservatives like benzoate, sorbate, nitrite and nitrate. Most of the studies have shown that the intake was below the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for average consumers. For extreme consumers (95th percentile), intake was found to be above the ADI or approaching ADI for additives like sunset yellow FCF, erythrosine, tartrazine, sulphite, benzoate and nitrite. It is advisable to look at multiple scenarios of dietary exposure while evaluating risk. A surveillance system which documents adverse effects to food additives as well as monitors risk on a regular basis is important for every country to have. Such data would be beneficial to regulatory authorities as well as the industry in fixing usage levels of the additive in an effort to minimize health risk.

Australian farmed Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola lalandi) and Mulloway (Argyrosomus hololepidotus): residues of metallic, agricultural and veterinary chemicals, dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls

Composite samples of Australian farmed Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola lalandi) (YTKF) (n=27), Mulloway (Argyrosomus hololepidotus) (n=6) and manufactured feed (n=5) were analysed to benchmark levels of a broad range of residues and contaminants of potential public health and trade significance. A subset of these samples [YTKF (n=5), Mulloway (n=2) and feed (n=5)] was analysed for dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The mean concentration of dioxins in YTKF was 0.6 pg TEQ g(-1) (range 0.22-0.8) and in Mulloway was 0.16 pg TEQ g(-1) (range 0.16-0.16). The mean concentration of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in YTKF was 2.6 pg TEQ g(-1) (range 1.4-3.5), while Mulloway had a mean concentration of 0.67 pg TEQ g(-1) (range 0.57-0.76). The mean concentration of PCBs in YTKF was 21 μg kg(-1) (range 8.6-29) and in Mulloway was 5.4 μg kg(-1) (mean 4.7-6). The mean concentration of dioxin-like PCBs in YTKF was 2.1 pg TEQ g(-1) (range 1.2-2.8) and in Mulloway was 0.51 pg TEQ g(-1) (range 0.41-0.61). The mean mercury concentration in YTKF was 0.03 mg kg(-1) (range 0.02-0.05) and in Mulloway it was 0.02 mg kg(-1) (range 0.02-0.04). There were no detectable levels of any pesticide or antimicrobial compounds in any sample of YTKF or Mulloway. Attention is drawn to technical differences in port of entry testing programs such as sampling strategies, portion tested, laboratory methodology, residue definitions and reporting conventions that exporters' products may be subject to. All residues and contaminants were either undetectable or present at very low levels when judged against Australian, Japanese and European Union regulatory standards (where set).

Consumer exposure to substances in plastic packaging. I. Assessment of the contribution of styrene from yogurt pots

A generic methodology for the assessment of consumer exposure to substances migrating from packaging materials into foodstuffs during storage is presented. Consumer exposure at the level of individual households is derived from the probabilistic modeling of the contamination of all packed food product units (e.g. yogurt pot, milk bottle, etc.) consumed by a given household over 1 year. Exposure of a given population is estimated by gathering the exposure distributions of individual households to suitable weights (conveniently, household sizes). Calculations are made by combining (i) an efficient resolution of migration models and (ii) a methodology utilizing different sources of uncertainty and variability. The full procedure was applied to the assessment of consumer exposure to styrene from yogurt pots based on yearly purchase data of more than 5400 households in France (about 2 million yogurt pots) and an initial concentration c0 of styrene in yogurt pot walls, which is assumed to be normally distributed with an average value of 500 mg kg-1 and a standard deviation of 150 mg kg-1. Results are discussed regarding both sensitivity of the migration model to boundary conditions and household practices. By assuming a partition coefficient of 1 and a Biot number of 100, the estimated median household exposure to styrene ranged between 1 and 35 microg day-1 person-1 (5th and 95th percentiles) with a likely value of 12 microg day-1 person-1 (50th percentile). It was found that exposure does not vary independently with the average consumption rate and contact times. Thus, falsely assuming a uniform contact time equal to the sell-by-date for all yogurts overestimates significantly the daily exposure (5th and 95th percentiles of 2 and 110 microg day-1 person-1, respectively) since high consumers showed quicker turnover of stock.