Deterministic long-term dietary exposure estimates of pesticide residues across different countries are called International Estimated Daily Intakes (IEDIs). Effect of using Food Balance Sheets (FBS) ...or National Food Consumption Surveys (NFCS) to calculate the IEDI was investigated. Presence of aggregated foods tended to increase the IEDI, and clustering of data from countries with comparable dietary patterns tended to decrease the IEDI. Furthermore, IEDIs for global use were not always at least as conservative as those for regional or national use. Risk assessors using these data should be aware of these limitations. As FBS data are only available for the general population and IEDIs are highest for children, a method was developed to convert FBS based IEDIs to indicative IEDIs for children. This may be appropriate if no NFCS data are available for this age group and the critical health-based guidance value is relevant for this age group.
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•Use of global Food Balance Sheets (import, export, use) in dietary exposure assessments of pesticides is not always more conservative than use of National Food Consumption Surveys.•Dietary exposure to pesticides tends to increase by aggregation of food consumption data.•Dietary exposure to pesticides tends to decrease by country based clustering of food consumption data.•Dietary exposure for children can be estimated with caution from Food Balance Sheet data using assumptions for relative body weight and relative food intake compared to adults.
Cumulative acute dietary risk assessments of organophosphorus (OPs), carbamates (CBs) and pyrethroids (PYs) were conducted for the Brazilian population. Residue data for 30786 samples of 30 foods ...were obtained from two national monitoring programs and one University laboratory, and consumption data from a national survey conducted among persons 10 years or older. Acephate and methamidophos were used as index compounds (IC) for OPs, oxamyl for CBs and deltamethrin for PYs. Exposures were estimated using the Monte Carlo Risk Assessment (MCRA 8.2) software. Orange and orange juice (mainly containing methidathion), pasta and salted bread (mainly pirimiphos-methyl) contributed most to the OPs intake. Rice accounted for 80% of the CBs intake (teenagers), mainly due to aldicarb. Pasta, salted bread and beans contributed most to the PYs intake (9–14%), mainly due to bifenthrin. The intake did not exceed the ARfD at the 99.9th percentile for OPs, CBs and PYs, and the risks from the exposure were not considered of health concern. When food consumption data become available for children under age 10, studies in the cumulative exposure should be conducted, as this age group is the most critical among the population, mainly due to their higher food consumption per kg body weight.
•Organophosphorus, carbamates, pyrethroids cumulative intakes not of health concern.•Orange/juice, pasta, bread contributed most to OPs intake (methidathion/pirimiphos-M).•Rice contributed most to CBs intake, mainly aldicarb.•Pasta, salted bread, beans contributed most to PYs intake (bifenthrin).
In this paper, the European chapter of the International Society for Exposure Science (ISES Europe) provides a vision on how dietary exposure sciences can contribute to address the challenges in the ...field of food safety and nutrition due to changes in food systems by answering the following question: How can we assess timely and accurately changes in dietary exposure to hazardous chemicals (and mixtures thereof) or intake of nutrients due to changes in food production, food consumption and food composition?
We first describe the current role of dietary exposure sciences and the instruments that are being used to assess dietary exposure in food safety and nutrition. This is followed by an analysis of current changes and developments, primarily at the European level, relevant for food safety and nutrition. This results in a list of identified challenges for dietary exposure sciences.
We thus focus on the timely and accurate assessment of the impact of changes and developments on consumer's and public health, from the perspective of dietary exposure sciences. This includes making better use of chemical analysis, dietary exposure assessment and human biomonitoring, providing increased insight in food composition and nutrients, taking into account the impact of new technologies on human exposure, and making better use of risk-benefit assessment.
•There is an urgent need to improve efficiency and effectiveness of dietary exposure assessment tools.•Therefore, the potential impact of dietary exposure sciences on food safety and nutrition is reviewed.•The most important changes and developments relevant for food safety and nutrition are discussed.•Recent developments and trends related to food safety will impact the consumer exposure to emerging risks.•Changing patterns of consumer choice and food consumption and compositions are the most important aspect of dietary exposure.
Numerous studies have indicated that for phthalates, the intake of contaminated foods is the most important exposure pathway for the general population. Up to now, data on dietary phthalate intake ...are scarce and – to the authors' knowledge – not available for the Belgian population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was: (1) to assess the long-term intake of the Belgian population for eight phthalates considering different exposure scenarios (benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP); di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP); dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP); di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP); diethyl phthalate (DEP); diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP); dimethyl phthalate (DMP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP)); (2) to evaluate the intake of BBP, DnBP, DEP and DEHP against tolerable daily intake (TDI) values; and (3) to assess the contribution of the different food groups to the phthalate intake. The intake assessment was performed using two Belgian food consumption databases, one with consumption data of preschool children (2.5 to 6.5years old) and another of adults (≥15years old), combined with a database of phthalate concentrations measured in over 550 food products sold on the Belgian market. Phthalate intake was calculated using the ‘Monte Carlo Risk Assessment’ programme (MCRA 7.0). The intake of DEHP was the highest, followed by DiBP. The intake of BBP, DnBP and DEP was far below the TDI for both children and adults. However, for DEHP, the 99th percentile of the intake distribution of preschoolers in the worst case exposure scenario was equal to 80% of the TDI, respectively. This is not negligible, since other exposure routes of DEHP exist for children as well (e.g. mouthing of toys). Bread was the most important contributor to the DEHP intake and this may deserve further exploration, since the origin of this phthalate in bread remains unclear.
► Of the eight phthalates assessed, the dietary intake of DEHP was the highest. ► The 99th percentile of the preschoolers' DEHP intake reached 80% of the TDI in the worst case exposure scenario. ► For BBP, DnBP and DEP, the assessed intakes were far below the TDI values in all exposure scenario's. ► Phthalate concentrations in Belgian bread need further investigation, due to high contamination and frequent consumption.
Residue data for triazoles (TR) and dithiocarbamates (DT) in 30,786 samples of 30 foods were obtained from mainly two national monitoring programs, and consumption data from a national survey ...conducted among persons aged 10 years or older. About 16% of the samples contained TR, mainly grape (53.5%), and 16.2% contained DT, mainly apple (59.3%). Flusilazole was the index compound used for the acute effects of TR for women of child-bearing-age (cranium-facial malformation and skeletal variation), cyproconazole for the chronic effects of TR (hepatoxicity), and ethylene-bis-dithitiocarbamates (EBDC) for DT (thyroid toxicity). Exposures were estimated using the Monte Carlo Risk Assessment software. Different models were tested, and a Model-Then-Add approach was found to best estimate the chronic exposures to DT and TR. At the 99.9th percentile (P99.9), the cumulative acute TR intakes accounted for up to 0.5% of the flusilazole ARfD, mainly from beans and rice consumption. The chronic TR and DT intakes accounted for 1 and 6.7% of the respective index compound ADIs, with beans and rice accounting for most of the TR intake (∼70%), and apple for about 51–56% of the DT intake. The estimated risks from the exposure to TR and DT indicate no health concern for the Brazilian population.
•Cumulative acute triazole intakes at P99.9 reached 0.5% of the flusilazole ARfD.•Cumulative chronic triazoles intake reached 1% of cyproconazole ADI.•Cumulative chronic dithiocarbamate intake reached 6.7% of EBDC ADI.•The estimated risks indicate no health concern for the Brazilian population.
To assess the differences in healthy, environmentally sustainable and safe food consumption by education levels among adults aged 19-69 in the Netherlands.
This study used data from the Dutch ...National Food Consumption Survey 2007-10. Food consumption data were obtained via two 24-h recalls. Food consumption data were linked to data on food composition, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) and concentrations of contaminants. The Dutch dietary guidelines (2015), dietary GHGe and dietary exposure to contaminants were used as indicators for healthy, environmentally sustainable and safe food consumption, respectively.
The Netherlands.
2106 adults aged 19-69 years.
High education groups consumed significantly more fruit (+28 g), vegetables (men +22 g; women +27 g) and fish (men +6 g; women +7 g), and significantly less meat (men -33 g; women -14 g) compared with low education groups. Overall, no educational differences were found in total GHGe, although its food sources differed. Exposure to contaminants showed some differences between education groups.
The consumption patterns differed by education groups, resulting in a more healthy diet, but equally environmentally sustainable diet among high compared with low education groups. Exposure to food contaminants differed between education groups, but was not above safe levels, except for acrylamide and aflatoxin B1. For these substances, a health risk could not be excluded for all education groups. These insights may be used in policy measures focusing on the improvement of a healthy diet for all.
•We present the MCRA software for modelling pesticide probabilistic risk assessment.•Mixtures of pesticides are handled in advanced cumulative risk assessment models.•Dietary and non-dietary ...exposures can be combined in aggregate risk assessments.•Both variability and uncertainty of exposure are modelled.•The software was validated using synthetic data and by comparisons to other models.
Pesticide risk assessment is hampered by worst-case assumptions leading to overly pessimistic assessments. On the other hand, cumulative health effects of similar pesticides are often not taken into account. This paper describes models and a web-based software system developed in the European research project ACROPOLIS. The models are appropriate for both acute and chronic exposure assessments of single compounds and of multiple compounds in cumulative assessment groups. The software system MCRA (Monte Carlo Risk Assessment) is available for stakeholders in pesticide risk assessment at mcra.rivm.nl. We describe the MCRA implementation of the methods as advised in the 2012 EFSA Guidance on probabilistic modelling, as well as more refined methods developed in the ACROPOLIS project. The emphasis is on cumulative assessments. Two approaches, sample-based and compound-based, are contrasted. It is shown that additional data on agricultural use of pesticides may give more realistic risk assessments. Examples are given of model and software validation of acute and chronic assessments, using both simulated data and comparisons against the previous release of MCRA and against the standard software DEEM-FCID used by the Environmental Protection Agency in the USA. It is shown that the EFSA Guidance pessimistic model may not always give an appropriate modelling of exposure.
•We modelled the cumulative dietary exposure to triazoles in eight European countries.•We tested the practicality of the EFSA guidance on probabilistic modelling for cumulative exposure ...assessments.•Optimistic model run can be performed on a routine basis for cumulative assessments.•Pessimistic model run is very laborious and may result in very conservative exposure estimates.•More experience is needed with the EFSA guidance regarding feasibility of all requirements and need for conservatism.
The practicality was examined of performing a cumulative dietary exposure assessment according to the requirements of the EFSA guidance on probabilistic modelling. For this the acute and chronic cumulative exposure to triazole pesticides was estimated using national food consumption and monitoring data of eight European countries. Both the acute and chronic cumulative dietary exposures were calculated according to two model runs (optimistic and pessimistic) as recommended in the EFSA guidance. The exposures obtained with these model runs differed substantially for all countries, with the highest exposures obtained with the pessimistic model run. In this model run, animal commodities including cattle milk and different meat types, entered in the exposure calculations at the level of the maximum residue limit (MRL), contributed most to the exposure. We conclude that application of the optimistic model run on a routine basis for cumulative assessments is feasible. The pessimistic model run is laborious and the exposure results could be too far from reality. More experience with this approach is needed to stimulate the discussion of the feasibility of all the requirements, especially the inclusion of MRLs of animal commodities which seem to result in unrealistic conclusions regarding their contribution to the dietary exposure.
The number of dietary exposure assessment studies focussing on children is very limited. Children are however a vulnerable group due to their higher food consumption level per kg body weight. ...Therefore, the EXPOCHI project aims 1 to create a relational network of individual food consumption databases in children, covering different geographical areas within Europe, and 2 to use these data to assess the usual intake of lead, chromium, selenium and food colours.
EXPOCHI includes 14 food consumption databases focussed on children (1-14 y old). The data are considered representative at national/regional level: 14 regions covering 13 countries. Since the aim of the study is to perform long-term exposure assessments, only data derived from 24 hr dietary recalls and dietary records recorded on at least two non-consecutive days per individual were included in the dietary exposure assessments. To link consumption data and concentration data of lead, chromium and selenium in a standardised way, categorisation of the food consumption data was based on the food categorisation system described within the SCOOP Task report 3.2.11. For food colours, the food categorisation system specified in the Council Directive 94/36/EC was used.
The EXPOCHI project includes a pan-European long-term exposure assessment of lead, chromium, selenium and food colours among children living in 13 different EU countries. However, the different study methods and designs used to collect the data in the different countries necessitate an in-depth description of these different methods and a discussion about the resulting limitations.
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