Development of harmonised food and sample lists for total diet studies in five European countries

ABSTRACT

A total diet study (TDS) is a public health tool for determination of population dietary exposure to chemicals across the entire diet. TDSs have been performed in several countries but the comparability of data produced is limited. Harmonisation of the TDS methodology is therefore desirable and the development of comparable TDS food lists is considered essential to achieve the consistency between countries. The aim of this study is to develop and test the feasibility of a method for establishing harmonised TDS food and sample lists in five European countries with different consumption patterns (Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Iceland and Portugal). The food lists were intended to be applicable for exposure assessment of wide range of chemical substances in adults (18–64 years) and the elderly (65–74 years). Food consumption data from recent dietary surveys measured on individuals served as the basis for this work. Since the national data from these five countries were not comparable, all foods were linked to the EFSA FoodEx2 classification and description system. The selection of foods for TDS was based on the weight of food consumed and was carried out separately for each FoodEx2 level 1 food group. Individual food approach was respected as much as possible when the TDS samples were defined. TDS food lists developed with this approach represented 94.7–98.7% of the national total diet weights. The overall number of TDS samples varied from 128 in Finland to 246 in Germany. The suggested method was successfully implemented in all five countries. Mapping of data to the EFSA FoodEx2 coding system was recognised as a crucial step in harmonisation of the developed TDS food lists.

KEYWORDS:

• Total diet study
• food list
• TDS samples
• harmonisation
• dietary exposure
• FoodEx2

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the institutions in the participating countries which kindly provided national food consumption data, namely: the National Institute of Public Health in Czech Republic, the Max Rubner-Institut in Germany, and the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland. Matis thanks the Directorate of Health, the Unit for Nutrition Research, University of Iceland and Landspitali National University Hospital and the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority for providing data from the Icelandic national food consumption survey 2010–11. INSA thanks the Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências da Nutrição (SPCNA) for the transfer of food consumption data used in this work from the study Portuguese Population’s Food Habits and Lifestyles (Alimentação e Estilos de Vida da População Portuguesa) conducted by SPCNA with the support of Nestlé, within a protocol of scientific sponsorship between the two institutions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at here

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2012–2016] as a part of TDS Exposure project [grant agreement number 289108]. The work was also supported by Ministry of Health of Czech Republic – DRO [National Institute of Public Health, IN 75010330]. This paper reflects only the authors’ views and the European Commission is not liable for any use made of the information contained therein. The underlying research materials for this article can be accessed at http://czvp.szu.cz/support/TDS_samples.htm