Comprehensive identification and risk assessment of regulated and emerging mycotoxins in infant foods and related raw materials and risk management advice: A case study of an infant food company in China.

This study evaluated muti-mycotoxins in 199 samples including processed infant foods and raw materials collected randomly from an infant food company and assessed their role in dietary exposure in infants and young children via probabilistic risk assessment. Approximately 79.6 % (74/93) of the processed infant foods and 65.1 % (69/106) of the raw materials were contaminated by mycotoxins, with a mean occurrence level of 3.66-321.8 µg/kg. Deoxynivalenol (DON) and tenuazonic acid (TeA) were the more prevalent mycotoxins detected, based on their higher frequencies and levels across samples. Co-occurrence of more than two mycotoxins was detected in 61.3 % (57/93) of the processed infant foods and 53.8 % (57/106) of the raw materials. Wheat flour and derived products (e.g., infant noodles and infant biscuits) were contaminated with higher contamination levels and a greater variety of mycotoxins than other samples (e.g., infant cereal and rice grains). The estimated daily exposure to OTA, DON, ZEN, and TEN was lower than the corresponding reference health-based guidance values, indicating acceptable health risks. However, the estimated dietary exposure to alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), alternariol (AOH), and tenuazonic acid (TeA) exceeded the corresponding thresholds of toxicological concern values, indicating potential dietary intake risks. Among the various samples, cereals and cereal-based infant foods emerged as the primary contributors to mycotoxin exposure. Further research is advised to address the uncertainties surrounding the toxicity associated with emerging Alternaria mycotoxins and to conduct cumulative risk assessments concerning multiple mycotoxin exposure in infants and young children.

Essential and Toxic Elements in Infant Cereal in Brazil: Exposure Risk Assessment.

Infant cereals, one of the first solid foods introduced to infants, have been reported to pose risks to human health because they contain toxic elements and an excess of essential elements. The objective of this study was to assess the cancer and non-cancer risk of exposure to essential and toxic elements in infant cereal in Brazil. In our analyses, we included data from 18 samples of infant cereals made from different raw materials and estimated the incremental lifetime cancer risks and non-cancer hazard quotients (HQs) for their consumption. Rice cereal is particularly concerning because it is immensely popular and usually contains high levels of inorganic arsenic. In addition to arsenic, we assessed aluminum, boron, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, nickel, selenium, silver, strontium, and zinc. The cancer risk was highest for rice cereal, which was also found to have an HQ > 1 for most of the tested elements. Inorganic As was the element associated with the highest cancer risk in infant cereal. All of the infant cereals included in this research contained at least one element with an HQ > 1. The essential and non-essential elements that presented HQ > 1 more frequently were zinc and cadmium, respectively. The cancer and non-cancer risks could potentially be decreased by reducing the amount of toxic and essential elements (when in excess), and public policies could have a positive influence on risk management in this complex scenario.

Assessment of quality and safety aspects of homemade and commercial baby foods.

Dietary Guidelines in some countries recommend avoiding commercially processed baby food, while others encourage the consultation of ingredients and nutritional information. Therefore, the objective of this study was to systematically analyze different baby foods obtained from commercial market and "homemade" produced, in order to verify whether comercial products have low nutritional and unsafety attributes. The samples were analyzed for chemical composition, physicochemical aspects, texture, microbiological and mycotoxin contamination, and pesticide residues. Results showed that, in general, commercial samples have a higher energy density and better ratio of macronutrients. The sodium, pH, and texture of both products were in accordance with the recommendations. None of the baby foods evaluated were contaminated with yeast and molds, total coliforms, or Escherichia coli; however, Salmonella sp. was confirmed in one homemade sample. Pesticide residues were detected in all analyzed baby food samples; however, at lower levels than the limit of quantification. Ochratoxin A was detected in one homemade baby food sample (5.76 µg /kg). Considering the samples evaluated, commercial baby food samples appeared to be safer in relation to microbiological, pesticide residue standards, and mycotoxin contamination. Therefore, it could be concluded that the quality of commercial and homemade baby foods still needs to be improved, as well as more studies related to a critical analyses of both types of processes used.

Level of minimum acceptable diet and its associated factors among children aged 12-23 months in Ugandan districts.

Uganda has made notable progress in improving child nutrition indicators, albeit not fast enough to meet global targets. Navigating the landscape of child nutrition in Uganda demands attention, particularly in light of the necessity for a minimum acceptable diet (MAD) for children aged 12-23 months. While the focus on local nutritional planning is crucial, the absence of routine-specific nutritional status data creates a significant information gap. To bridge this void, this study used datasets from the 2021 Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) survey. Data were analysed using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression (clustering districts based on regional boundaries) at a 5% statistical significance level using STATA version 17. Of the 7,111 children surveyed, 3,256 (49.20%) received the minimum meal frequency, 695 (9.80%) received the minimum dietary diversity, and only 380 (5.34%) received the MAD. There was a notable variation in the proportion of children that received the MAD across regions and districts. Children living in urban areas, children whose mothers had a higher education, and children whose mothers had a diverse diet were more likely to receive the MAD. Children were less likely to receive the MAD if they lived in a household that did not receive a health worker visit within the year. These findings suggest a need to prioritize initiatives aimed at increasing dietary diversity among children in Uganda. This could be done through a variety of approaches, such as leveraging the use of home gardens to boost nutrition through diverse crop cultivation, demonstration gardens, and offering nutrition counselling through village health teams.

Commercially available foods for young children (<36 months) in Australia: An assessment of how they compare to a proposed nutrient profile model.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: To assess the nutritional composition of commercially available foods (CAFs) for infants and toddlers sold in Australia to determine whether they meet World Health Organization (WHO) Europe's proposed standards for nutritionally appropriate foods for children <36 months. METHODS: A cross-sectional retail audit of infant (n = 177) and toddler (n = 73) foods found in-store and online at three major Victorian supermarkets was conducted in August/September 2019. Products were grouped according to WHO Europe's food categories and their nutrient content assessed against specific composition standards applicable to their category. The presence of added sugar in each product was also recorded. RESULTS: Most infant products (71%) were soft-wet spoon-able, ready-to-eat foods whereas the most prevalent category for toddler products was dry finger foods and snacks (71%). Overall, just one-third of CAFs met all the nutrient recommendations for their category, with infant foods more likely to be compliant than toddler foods (43% vs. 10%; P < .001). Around 9 in 10 infant (93%) and toddler (89%) CAFs contained added sugar according to the Public Health England definition of 'free' sugars. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable scope to improve the nutritional composition of Australian CAFs for both infants and toddlers, to reduce harmful sugars in these foods and to improve the energy density of them. For CAFs marketed as suitable for toddlers there is also considerable scope to reduce the sodium content. SO WHAT?: These findings support the need for stronger regulation of CAFs for infants and toddlers to better promote healthy eating patterns and taste preferences in young children.

Dietary exposure assessment of infant formula and baby foods' oxidized lipids in the US population.

Baby Foods (BFs) and Infant formulas (IFs) are the main sources of nutrition for an infant throughout the 1st year of life. Various enriched products are commercially available for parents seeking to fulfill their baby's nutritional needs. Consequently, different bioactive lipids are present in BFs and IFs, including dietary oxysterols (DOxS), whose known toxicity has been associated with mutagenicity, cancer, and other chronic diseases. In this work, we performed an exposure assessment of 25 bioactive lipids on IFs (n = 30) and BFs (n = 13) commercially available in the US. To determine dietary exposure, we used EPA's SHEDS-HT probabilistic model. Even though ß-Sitosterol was the most exposed bioactive lipid with 75,410 µg/day, cholesterol was the most absorbed compound during the entire first year (19.3 mg/day). Additionally, we found 7α-hydroxycholesterol (7α-OH) as a potential DOxS biomarker of the BFs manufacturing process. This is the first time an infant's exposure assessment (including DOxS) after BFs and IFs consumption is performed, enabling much-needed information regarding these hazardous compounds and their potential effects on infants' health.

Factors associated with suboptimal complementary feeding practices among mothers of infants and young children in India.

Objectives: To examine the current complementary feeding practices among infants and young children aged 6 to 23 months in India, and factors influencing these practices at child, parental, household and community levels. Material and methods: Data on 74,095 last-born children aged 6 to 23 months used in this study were obtained from the 2015 India Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS). Complementary feeding indicators (timely introduction of complementary foods to infants aged 6 to 8 months old, minimum meal frequency, minimum dietary diversity, and minimum acceptable diets) were estimated, and their associated factors were identified using descriptive and multivariate (logistic regression) analyses. Results: The prevalence of the timely introduction of complementary foods to infants aged 6 to 8 months was 45.1%. The proportion of children between ages 6 to 23 months who received the minimum meal frequency, minimum dietary diversity and minimum acceptable diets were 36%, 21% and 9.1%, respectively. Findings from the multivariate analyses revealed that mothers of infants delivered at home, mothers who had no antenatal check-up, mothers who are Hindus, mothers living in rural areas or those from the Western/Northern geographical regions of India were at higher risk of suboptimal complementary feeding practices.Conclusions. Our findings indicate that, among other factors, achieving the recommended four or more antenatal visits was consistently associated with improved complementary feeding practices. Thus, policies that ensure increased coverage and quality of antenatal check-up could improve complementary feeding practices of mothers in India, and help towards achieving sustainable development goal 2, targeted at eradicating hunger and malnutrition.

Nutritional Assessment of Baby Food Available in Italy.

Adequate complementary feeding practices are important for short- and long-term child health. In industrialized countries, the formulation of several commercial baby foods (CBFs) and an increase in their consumption has been noticed. AIM: To update and analyze the nutritional composition of CBFs available in the Italian market. METHODS: Data collection carried out in two steps (July 2018-January 2019) and updated in May-September 2021. The information on CBFs was taken from the websites of the major CBF producers available in Italy. The collected information were: Suggested initial and final age of consumption; Ingredients; Energy value; Macronutrients (protein, lipids, and carbohydrates); Fiber; Micronutrients (sodium, iron, and calcium); Presence of salt and added sugars, flavorings, and other additives. RESULTS: Time-space for which CBFs are recommended starts too early and ends too late; protein content is adequate and even too high in some food; Amount of fats and their quality must be improved, keeping the intake of saturated fats low; Sugar content is too high in too many CBFs and salt is unnecessarily present in some of them. Finally, the texture of too many products is purée, and its use is recommended for too long, hindering the development of infants' chewing abilities.

Dietary intake and risk assessment of elements for 1- and 2-year-old children in the Netherlands.

In 2017, a total diet study (TDS) was conducted in the Netherlands to determine the intake of elements by 1- and 2-year-old children. Concentrations of 47 elements were analysed and long-term dietary intake was calculated for 24 elements. The 95th percentile (P95) intake estimates were compared with a tolerable daily or weekly intake (TDI or TWI) or tolerable upper intake level (UL), or a margin of exposure (MOE) was calculated. The P95 intake of cadmium and zinc exceeded the TWI or UL, respectively, and the P95 intake of inorganic arsenic and lead resulted in low MOEs. Food subgroups contributing most to the intake were "potatoes" for cadmium, "milk and milk-based beverages" for zinc, "concentrated fruit juices" and "rice" for inorganic arsenic, and "candies" for lead. For inorganic mercury, it could not be established if the intake was (too) high. P95 intake estimates of the other elements for which a risk characterisation could be performed were below the health-based guidance values. It was noted that the P50 intake estimate of manganese was a factor of 3 higher than the adequate intake level. Due to the absence of a UL, it is not clear if this intake is of concern.

Assessment of Citrinin in Spices and Infant Cereals Using Immunoaffinity Column Clean-Up with HPLC-Fluorescence Detection.

Historically, the analysis of citrinin has mainly been performed on cereals such as red yeast rice; however, in recent years, more complex and abnormal commodities such as spices and infant foods are becoming more widely assessed. The aim of this study was to develop and validate clean-up methods for spices and cereal-based infant foods using a citrinin immunoaffinity column before HPLC analysis with fluorescence detection. Each method developed was validated with a representative matrix, spiked at various citrinin concentrations, based around European Union (EU) regulations set for ochratoxin A (OTA), with recoveries >80% and % RSD < 9% in all cases. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) were established at 1 and 3 µg/kg for spices and 0.1 and 0.25 µg/kg for infant cereals, respectively. These methods were then tested across a variety of spices and infant food products to establish efficacy with high recoveries >75% and % RSD < 5% across all matrices assessed. Therefore, these methods proved suitable for providing effective clean-up of spices and infant cereals, enabling reliable quantification of citrinin detected. Samples such as nutmeg and infant multigrain porridge had higher levels of citrinin contamination than anticipated, indicating that citrinin could be a concern for public health. This highlighted the need for close monitoring of citrinin contamination in these commodities, which may become regulated in the future.

Assessment of the Risk of Contamination of Food for Infants and Toddlers.

Infants and toddlers are highly sensitive to contaminants in food. Chronic exposure can lead to developmental delays, disorders of the nervous, urinary and immune systems, and to cardiovascular disease. A literature review was conducted mainly in PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus databases, and took into consideration papers published from October 2020 to March 2021. We focused on contaminant content, intake estimates, and exposure to contaminants most commonly found in foods consumed by infants and children aged 0.5-3 years. In the review, we included 83 publications with full access. Contaminants that pose a high health risk are toxic elements, acrylamide, bisphenol, and pesticide residues. Minor pollutants include: dioxins, mycotoxins, nitrates and nitrites, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In order to reduce the negative health effects of food contamination, it seems reasonable to educate parents to limit foods that are potentially dangerous for infants and young children. An appropriate varied diet, selected cooking techniques, and proper food preparation can increase the likelihood that the foods children consume are safe for their health. It is necessary to monitor food contamination, adhere to high standards at every stage of production, and improve the quality of food for children.

Fish-Based Baby Food Concern-From Species Authentication to Exposure Risk Assessment.

In this work, two different but complementary approaches were used to evaluate the reliability of fish-based baby foods as a source of safe nourishment for babies. More specifically, barcoding analysis based on the Cytochrome Oxidase I sequences was used for fish species authentication and an analysis of metal/metalloid levels was performed to estimate the exposure risk assessment derived from consumption of selected fish-based baby food in infants and toddlers. COI DNA barcoding revealed that in three samples the species detected did not match the common name of the species shown on the label. In particular, G. chalcogrammus and M. australis were found in place of M. merluccius and O. mykiss was found in place of S. salar. The analysis of exposure risk assessment indicated a low risk for developing chronic systemic and carcinogenic effects in infants and toddler, under an exposure scenario based on daily consumption of a single box of fish-based baby food. However, it is important to highlight that in order to provide a comprehensive risk assessment it would be important to supplement the levels of exposure resulting from the total diet. Overall, our results suggest that more attention should be paid by authorities to ensure the safety of food for infants and toddlers.

Assessment of dietary exposure to deoxynivalenol and fumonisin in the population of infants and toddlers in Turkey.

This study aims to estimate dietary exposure to deoxynivalenol and fumonisins (FBs) of infants and toddlers in Turkey. A total of 75 processed cereal-based foods intended for infants and toddlers collected between July and October 2018, were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). DON was determined in 21.3% of samples with mean middle bound (MB) level of 28.4 µg/kg. Of the 16 quantifiable samples, only one showed values above 200 µg/kg. Fumonisin B1 (FB1) was detected at quantifiable levels only in three samples, while FB2 was not found in any sample. Estimated mean MB chronic dietary exposures to DON in infants and toddlers were 0.161 and 0.118 µg/kg b.w. per day, while 95th percentile (P95) MB exposures to DON were estimated at 0.564 and 0.414 µg/kg b.w. per day, respectively. Mean MB dietary exposures to FBs for infants and toddlers, respectively, were 0.093 and 0.068 µg/kg b.w. per day; P95 exposure estimates were 0.079 and 0.058 µg/kg b.w. per day. Both for DON and FBs, mean and P95 exposures of infants and toddlers did not exceeded the threshold level of 1 µg/kg b.w. per day and are therefore not of health concern.

Health risk assessment to dioxins, furans and PCBs in young children: The first French evaluation.

A total diet study (TDS) was conducted between 2010 and 2016 to characterize the health risk related to chemical residues in food of French not breastfed children under three years of age (infant TDS). Among the targeted substances, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been characterized as they accumulate through the food chain, especially in lipid-rich food items, and because they have been associated with a number of adverse effects in humans. Food samples (n = 180) were collected to be representative of the dioxins and PCB exposure through the whole diet of non-breastfed children from 1 to 36 months old and prepared as consumed (including cooking) prior to analysis. Dietary exposure was then assessed for 705 representative children under 3 years of age based on their food consumptions recorded through a 3-consecutive-days record. Levels of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in infant food were lower than those observed in common food, leading to significant differences in exposure according to age groups. Mean exposures to PCDD/Fs ranged from 0.22 to 0.44 pg TEQWHO05.kg bw-1.d-1 (0.40-0.65 at the 90th percentile), depending on the age group and the hypothesis considered to manage left-censored data. Mean exposure to non-dioxin-like PCBs ranged from 0.87 ng kg bw-1.d-1 (1.55 at the 90th percentile) in the 1-4 months old children to 3.53 ng kg bw-1.d-1 (5.44 at the 90th percentile) in the 13-36 months old children. For dioxins and NDL-PCBs, the tolerable daily intake (TDI) was exceeded for some age groups, in particular for older ones. Therefore, appropriate management measures must continue for reducing exposure; it concerns mainly common milk in youngest children, ultra-fresh dairy products and fish. For PCBs, recommendations on fish consumption should be reminded. Moreover, toxicity studies focusing on mixtures of dioxin-like compounds should be encouraged in order to take into account effect of mixtures.

[Comparative assessment of N-nitrosamines' contamination of baby's canned meat with vegetables and cereals by various methods in Russia and Vietnam].

The quality and safety of food, intended for baby in particular, is one of the global issues of our time. The group of carcinogenic N-nitrosamines is of especially dangerous. It is worth mentioning that currently there are no standards for their content in Vietnam. Therefore, to ensure the chemical safety of infant food, it is necessary to improve the control system, including the development of modern technical and methodological base. The aim of the research is the comparative assessment of contamination with highly toxic, N-nitrosoamines of baby canned meat and vegetable products by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using an automatic solid-phase extraction system and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Material and methods. The objects of research were homogenized canned meat-vegetable products for baby nutrition - 21 samples taken from the distribution network of the Republic of Vietnam: vegetables and rice with chicken (sample No. 1); sweet corn with mashed potatoes and turkey (sample No. 2); potatoes with veal (sample No. 3); each species has 7 samples. Each food sample was analyzed thrice by two methods. At the Federal Center of Perm, the screening studies of canned foods were performed using GC/ MS with application of the automatic solid-phase extraction system (SPE) after distillation using alkaline catalysis at the sample preparation stage. At the National Institute of Food Control of Republic of Viеtnam, canned samples were studied using GC-MS/MS. The extraction method was developed on the base of QuEChERS-approach. Results and discussion. During the research, the following chemical contaminants were found in the canned samples: N-nitrosodimethylamine, N-nitrosodiethylamine, N-methylethyl nitrosoamine, N-dipropylnitrosoamine, N-dibutyl nitrosoamine, N-piperidinitrozoamine, N-pyrrolidinin nitrosoamine, N-morpholinithrosamine and N-diphenyl nitrosoamine. It was demonstrated that the results of quantitative determination of the content of N-nitrosoamines in canned meat of Vietnam producers obtained in different laboratories are comparable and have good validation characteristics for the determination of N-nitrosoamines in baby food. Thus, N-nitrosodimethylamine was detected by both methods in all analyzed samples in the concentration range from 0.00045 to 0.00077 mg/kg. Values exceeding the maximum permissible level of N-nitrosoamines (N-nitrosodimethylamine and N-nitrosodiethylamine) in canned meat and vegetable samples (0.001 mg/kg according to Technical Regulations of the Customs Union TR TC 021/ 2011 "On Food Safety") were not found. The application of low-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and the use of an automatic SPE system made it possible to achieve high comparability of the results in chemical analysis of N-nitrosoamines in canned products obtained in the laboratory of the Center and the National Institute for Food Control of Vietnam. Conclusion. The executed studies indicate the need for further monitoring of the content of chemicals in baby products in order to justify methodological approaches to the analysis of the risk of the simultaneous effect of chemical contaminants on the health of children. In this regard, it seems extremely important and relevant issue of hygienic regulation of the content of the studied compounds in products for baby food.

Environmental sustainability assessment of ready-made baby foods: Meals, menus and diets.

Although there is a growing body of literature on the environmental impacts of food, virtually none of the studies has addressed baby foods. Therefore, this work explored the life cycle environmental impacts of different ready-made baby foods, both at the level of individual meals and their combinations within a weekly menu. Twelve different meals were considered, based on baby food products available on the UK market, spanning breakfast, lunch and dessert. Menus following four different diets - omnivorous, vegetarian, pescatarian and dairy-free - were also evaluated. The results showed that, on average, lunch meals had the highest impacts and desserts the lowest. Breakfast has either intermediate (wet porridge) or low (dry porridge) impacts. Among the lunch meals, spaghetti Bolognese and salmon risotto had the highest impacts and among the desserts, strawberry, raspberry and banana as well as apple, pear and banana purees had the lowest. The key hotspots across the meals were raw materials and packaging. Meals with more meat and cream were found to have higher impacts. Manufacturing also played a significant role for global warming potential as well as depletion of fossil resources and the ozone layer due to the fossil fuels used in the process. When the impacts were analysed per mass of baby food consumed weekly, the dairy-free diet had higher impacts than the other three, but the difference among them was relatively small. The trends changed when nutritional value was taken into account, with the dairy-free diet exhibiting considerably higher impacts per unit of energy content. In that case, the pescatarian diet became the best option for most impacts. There was little difference between the omnivore and vegetarian diets. It is expected that these results will be of interest to baby food manufacturers and consumers, helping them to make more informed manufacturing and purchasing decisions.

Dietary exposure to perfluoroalkyl acids, brominated flame retardants and health risk assessment in the French infant total diet study.

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are widely used and present in human food. Due to the increased susceptibility to pollutants of the young children, we conducted a total diet study focusing on this population. Around 200 baby and common food composite samples, prepared "as consumed", have been analysed for PFAAS, hexabromocyclododecanes, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and tetrabromobisphenol A. The dietary exposure of 705 children aged 1-36 months was assessed. PFAAS were detected only in one fish sample. Detection rates varied from 4 to 93% for BFRs, depending on the congeners. Regarding the provisional health-based guidance values set by EFSA in 2018 for PFOA and PFOS at 0.8 and 1.8 ng kg bw-1.d-1, respectively, 20-100% of children exceeded them, depending on the age. Efforts should be made to decrease the PFAAs contamination of common foods. This study also highlighted that for other PFAAs, toxicological studies are needed to set dietary health-based guidance values, to assess their related health risk. Conversely, dietary exposures to BRFs were much lower than the respective health based guidance values or margins of safety were high enough, and consequently not considered at-risk due to very low contamination of the infant specific foods.

Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Aflatoxins and Deoxynivalenol in Cereal-Based Baby Foods for Infants.

Aflatoxins are carcinogenic to humans and deoxynivalenol causes digestive disorders, and both mycotoxins occur frequently in cereal-based foods. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence and levels of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) and deoxynivalenol (DON) in cereal-based baby foods as well as to calculate the estimated daily intakes (EDI) in different stages of infancy. Sixty samples of infant cereals (wheat-, corn-, rice-, oat-, and mixed grain-based) were collected during a 2-year period and analyzed by validated methods. Aflatoxins were detected in 12 samples (20%), six of which exceeded the EU maximum level for aflatoxin B1 set at 0.10 µg/kg. Deoxynivalenol appeared in 20% of baby food samples, with one sample exceeding the EU maximum level established at 200 µg/kg. There were no significant differences between gluten-free products for babies aged 4⁻6 months and multi-cereal products for infants aged 7⁻12 months, nor between whole-grain-based and refined ingredients. However, baby food products of organic origin showed significantly higher levels of deoxynivalenol than conventional ones (p < 0.05). It is proposed for the health protection of infants and young children, a vulnerable group, to establish the lowest maximum level for the sum of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) in baby food.

Assessment of radioactivity in Italian baby food.

A set of measurements have been conducted to determine the activity-level of natural and artificial radionuclides in some baby foods commercialized in Italy. The measurements have been carried out using liquid scintillation, gamma, alpha and mass spectrometry. The activity concentrations ranged from 0.005 to 0.238, from 0.0082 to 1.65, from 0.0003 to 0.015 and from <13.6 to 233.3 Bq kg-1 for 210Po, 238U, 232Th and 40K respectively, whereas they are below the detection limit for 137Cs and 226Ra. The annual effective dose due to intake of 210Po, 238U, 232Th and 40K ranged from 280 and 800 µSv y-1 for infant 1 year old. These values lie well within the typical worldwide range of dose due to the ingestion of all natural radiation reported by UNSCEAR and they are below the internationally recommended level. This indicates that the baby food available in Italy would not pose any significant radiological impact to infant.

The Hazards of a Ubiquitary Metalloid, Arsenic, Hiding in Infant Diets: Detection, Speciation, Exposure, and Risk Assessment.

Different types of infant foods categorized as formulas, cereals, and purees imported from seven different countries and available on the Kuwaiti retail market were collected for arsenic analysis. The samples were analyzed both for total arsenic concentration using ICP-MS and for arsenic speciation using HPLC-ICP-MS. Speciation is essential for food analysis because of the toxicity and carcinogenicity of inorganic arsenic species. There was a strong positive linear correlation between the total and inorganic arsenic levels in the tested infant foods at the 95% confidence level. Arsenic concentrations detected in this study were implemented to calculate the total daily intake of arsenic, where the calculated daily intake values were utilized to assess the potential health risks to infants incurred by consuming different infant foods by calculating three different assessment indices namely, hazard quotient (HQ), cancer risk (CR), and margin of exposure (MOE). Both the total arsenic content and the safety of the investigated infant foods were compared to the ones associated with 406 different infant food types from seven different countries reported in the literature. This study confirms that infants are exposed to arsenic via diet since rice-based infant food products contained elevated levels of arsenic; consequently, warranting careful attention to diet choices both to limit this exposure and to avert potentially hazardous adverse health effects to the infants.