Recent advances in the risk assessment of melamine and cyanuric acid in animal feed.

Melamine can be present at low levels in food and feed mostly from its legal use as a food contact material in laminates and plastics, as a trace contaminant in nitrogen supplements used in animal feeds, and as a metabolite of the pesticide cyromazine. The mechanism of toxicity of melamine involves dose-dependent formation of crystals with either endogenous uric acid or a structural analogue of melamine, cyanuric acid, in renal tubules resulting in potential acute kidney failure. Co-exposure to melamine and cyanuric acid in livestock, fish, pets and laboratory animals shows higher toxicity compared with melamine or cyanuric acid alone. Evidence for crystal formation between melamine and other structural analogs i.e. ammelide and ammeline is limited. Illegal pet food adulterations with melamine and cyanuric acid and adulteration of milk with melamine resulted in melamine-cyanuric acid crystals, kidney damage and deaths of cats and dogs and melamine-uric acid stones, hospitalisation and deaths of children in China respectively. Following these incidents, the tolerable daily intake for melamine was re-evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organisation, and the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This review provides an overview of toxicology, the adulteration incidents and risk assessments for melamine and its structural analogues. Particular focus is given to the recent EFSA risk assessment addressing impacts on animal and human health of background levels of melamine and structural analogues in animal feed. Recent research and future directions are discussed.

Dietary exposure assessment to perchlorate in the European population.

EFSA performed a human exposure assessment for perchlorate taking into account occurrence data in the EFSA database from samples taken after 1 September 2013. A data set of 18,217 analytical results provided by governmental organisations of 16 European countries was available. Some data were also provided by food business operators. Several food groups were represented in the data set. Relatively high mean middle bound occurrence values were found in dried products, like 'Tea and herbs for infusion' (324 µg/kg) and 'Herbs, spices and condiments' (63 µg/kg), and in some fresh vegetables, like 'Radishes' (117 µg/kg), 'Rocket salad, rucola' (75 µg/kg) and 'Spinach (fresh)' (132 µg/kg). The mean and P95 of exposure to perchlorate across dietary surveys were estimated using chronic and short-term scenarios across different population groups. In the chronic scenario, infants, toddlers and other children showed exposure in the range (minimum lower bound (LB)-maximum upper bound (UB)) 0.04-0.61 µg/kg body weight (bw) per day, while in the older population groups, the range was 0.04-0.19 µg/kg bw per day; similarly, in the young population groups, the P95 of chronic exposure range was 0.09-1.0 µg/kg bw per day, while in the older population groups, it was 0.07-0.34 µg/kg bw per day. 'Vegetable and vegetable products', 'Milk and dairy products' and 'Fruit and fruit products' were found to be important contributors to the exposure across all population groups. Other food groups were relevant for specific population groups. The mean short-term exposure of infants, toddlers and other children was in the range of 0.40-2.3 µg/kg bw per day, while in the older population groups, the range was 0.26-1.3 µg/kg bw per day; similarly, in the young population groups, the P95 short-term exposure range was 0.94-6.5 µg/kg bw per day, while in the older population groups, the range was 0.67-3.6 µg/kg bw per day.