Estimation of dietary aluminum exposure of the Belgian adult population: evaluation of contribution of food and kitchenware.

An exposure assessment was performed to estimate the usual daily intake of aluminum (Al) via food and kitchenware in the Belgian adult population. Food consumption data were retrieved from the National Food Consumption Survey. Measurements of Al were performed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer on 552 pooled samples. The estimated usual daily intake of Al was calculated with the Nusser method, and amounted to 0.030mg/kg bodyweight bw/day, or 21% of the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI), established in 2008 and confirmed in 2011 by the European Food Safety Authority. The contribution of kitchenware to dietary Al exposure was estimated combining leaching models established for different food contact materials combined with surface use of the respective materials provided by an in-house validation survey. The average daily Al intake through kitchenware was estimated to be 7-fold less important at the mean level of the population than the Al intake through food. At the 98.2th percentile the dietary Al exposure reached 0.144mg/kg bw/day (0.113 and 0.031mg/kgbw/day respectively). This exceeds the PTWI indicating that a well defined subgroup of the population might be at risk.

Dietary exposure of the Belgian adult population to non-dioxin-like PCBs.

Non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (ndl-PCBs), and some of their metabolites, might initiate neurological, neuroendocrinological, immunological and carcinogenic effects. Dietary exposure of the Belgian adult population to ndl-PCBs was investigated in this study. Foods from five food groups, collected in Belgium in 2008, were analyzed by GC-MS/MS for the six indicator PCBs (PCB 28, 52, 101, 138, 153 and 180). Results were expressed as the sum of the six congeners. A dietary exposure assessment was performed, combining ndl-PCBs levels found in food with data from the national food consumption survey of 2004. Fish and fish products were the dominating food group in terms of contamination level, with the highest levels measured in the composite sample «other fishes¼ (18.58 ng/g FW). The dietary exposure of the Belgian population (n=3083) to ndl-PCBs ranged from 5.33 ng/kg b.w./day on average to 16.10 ng/kg b.w./day at the 99th percentile, using the lower bound concentration. The mean dietary exposure mainly originates from Fish and fish products (54.3%), followed by dairy products (28.5%). As neither EFSA nor JECFA have set a Tolerable Daily Intake for ndl PCBs, uncertainty remains about how to interpret the exposure data in terms of public health.

Modelling aluminium leaching into food from different foodware materials with multi-level factorial design of experiments.

To estimate the contribution of aluminium (Al) leaching from different materials used for food preparation and serving to the dietary Al intake, Al release from foodware typically used in everyday life was investigated using multilevel factorial design (MFD) of experiments. For Al characterisation, sample preparation and an analytical method using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy was developed and validated. Parameter influence (temperature: x1, contact time: x2, pH: x3, salt concentration: x4, viscosity: x5), was evaluated with analysis of variance suggesting that the influence of viscosity is not significant compared to the other four studied parameters. Therefore, predictive, exponential quadratic regression models were established with x1-x4. Cross-validation and a set of independent experiments in real food products were used to test the prediction force of the different models. They both suggest that the quality of the models established for Al foil, Al plate and ceramic ware is satisfactory, but less good for glassware and stainless steel. Indeed, in the studied conditions, leaching from these latter food wares was often close to or even below the limit of quantification suggesting that the principal sources of Al intake from food contact materials during food processing are utensils made of Al and ceramic ware.