The potential application of European market research data in dietary exposure modelling of food additives

ABSTRACT

Consumer exposure assessments for food additives are incomplete without information about the proportions of foods in each authorised category that contain the additive. Such information has been difficult to obtain but the Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD) provides information about product launches across Europe over the past 20 years. These data can be searched to identify products with specific additives listed on product labels and the numbers compared with total product launches for food and drink categories in the same database to determine the frequency of occurrence. There are uncertainties associated with the data but these can be managed by adopting a cautious and conservative approach. GNPD data can be mapped with authorised food categories and with food descriptions used in the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Surveys Database for exposure modelling. The data, when presented as percent occurrence, could be incorporated into the EFSA ANS Panel’s ‘brand-loyal/non-brand loyal exposure model in a quantitative way. Case studies of preservative, antioxidant, colour and sweetener additives showed that the impact of including occurrence data is greatest in the non-brand loyal scenario. Recommendations for future research include identifying occurrence data for alcoholic beverages, linking regulatory food codes, FoodEx and GNPD product descriptions, developing the use of occurrence data for carry-over foods and improving understanding of brand loyalty in consumer exposure models.

KEYWORDS:

• Additives
• exposure
• intake
• modelling
• occurrence
• market research
• brand loyalty
• uncertainty

Acknowledgements

This research project was co-funded by the following food industry organisations:

- CEEREAL, The European Breakfast Cereal Association,

- CEFIC, The European Chemical Industry Council,

- The EU Specialty Food Ingredients Association,

- FoodDrinkEurope,

- ISC, The International Stevia Council,

- NATCOL, The Natural Food Colors Association,

- The Brewers of Europe,

- UNESDA, Soft drinks Europe.

The authors wish to acknowledge their gratitude to Mintel Group Ltd for allowing temporary access to the Global New Products Database for this research project.

Declaration of interest statement

D Tennant and C Bruyninckx received financial support for this project from the food industry organisations listed above.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Food Drink Europe; UNESDA, Soft drinks Europe; The EU Specialty Food Ingredients Association; CEFIC, The European Chemical Industry Council; ISC, The International Stevia Council; CEEREAL, The European Breakfast Cereal Association; The Brewers of Europe; NATCOL, The Natural Food Colors Association.