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Abstract
Cadmium is a very toxic contaminant with food being the major source of exposure for the general public. The second German food consumption survey (Nationale Verzehrsstudie II – NVS II) with about 20 000 participants (15 371 for dietary history interviews used for this study) allowed for an updated exposure assessment for the German population. Based on these comprehensive data, information on the consumption of 545 individual food items by the German population was generated. Cadmium concentrations in food were compiled from the German food monitoring programme, European countries’ authority programmes and the published literature, covering the years from 1993 to 2008, and were multiplied with consumption data to obtain estimates of cadmium intake from food. Consumption-weighted mean cadmium concentrations per main food group were highest for cereals, followed by oily seeds & fruits, and vegetables. Due to both high consumption and considerable occurrence of cadmium, cereals and vegetables contributed most to the intake of the general public, followed by the main groups beverages, fruits & nuts, and dairy products (including milk). Cadmium intake from food was estimated to be 1.46 and 2.35 µg kg–1 bw week–1 for average and high-end consumers, respectively. This corresponds to 58% for average and 95% for high-end consumers, respectively, of a reference value derived from a recent health risk evaluation performed by EFSA, using the benchmark approach. Uncertainties in these estimates pertain to the influence of values below the limit of quantification and some foods not considered due to lacking occurrence data. In conclusion, the estimated cadmium intake of the German population from food is still close to health-based reference values. Further efforts to reduce cadmium intake are required.
Funding
This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety “Lebensmittelbedingte Aufnahme von Umweltkontaminanten – Datenaufbereitung zur Unterstützung und Standardisierung von Expositionsschätzungen auf Basis der Nationalen Verzehrsstudie II” Forschungskennzeichen UM 08 61 712. The authors have no financial or non-financial interest to disclose.
Supplemental online material
A supplemental data file is provided containing full references to the literature on cadmium in foodstuff used within the exposure estimation. Beyond this, a second list of references on the literature not directly applied for exposure estimation but used for comparison and plausibility check of data is provided within the same file. The supplemental data for this article can be accessed here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19440049.2014.905711