Occurrence and infant exposure assessment of nitrates in baby foods marketed in the region of Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

Commercial baby food labelled as from organic or conventional origin, including vegetable-based baby foods, fruit purees and fruit juices (n = 80), were analysed for nitrate content by an in-house validated HPLC method. Nitrate contents ranged from 5 to 230 mg kg⁻¹ with a mean concentration of 102 mg kg⁻¹ for vegetable-based baby foods, and a median of 5 mg kg⁻¹ for both fruit purees and juices. One sample of vegetable-based baby food was higher than the legislated value (200 mg kg⁻¹). There were no significant differences between average nitrate levels in analysed samples regarding both farming systems. The estimated nitrate intake through baby foods for a mean nitrate concentration of 47 mg kg⁻¹ ranged between 0.5 (15% of ADI) and 1.3 mg kg⁻¹ bw day⁻¹ (35% of ADI). The ADI level was exceeded (107–146% of ADI) only for the 95th and 99th percentiles of nitrate concentration.

Keywords:

• nitrate
• baby food
• organic foods

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Guiomar Medeiros for the statistical analysis and to Carla Martins for sample organization and preparation.