No abstract

There has been an increasing realisation that young infants are exposed to elevated concentrations of the carcinogen inorganic arsenic, relative to adults. This is because many infant food products are rice based, and rice is ~10-fold elevated in inorganic arsenic compared to most other foods. The European Commission (EC) has acted on this concern setting stricter standards for infants, 100 μg of inorganic arsenic per kg of food (100 μg/kg), as compared to adults (200 μg/kg), for rice based foods, a law that was brought into place in 1st January 2016. Here we investigate how this law has impacted on inorganic arsenic in baby food products in the UK market, and compare the findings to previous baby food surveys taken before and just after the law came into place. We find that for a wide range of UK infant products that the new regulations are being adhered to, with all samples surveyed, being under 100 μg/kg inorganic arsenic. The prevalence of pure rice products had decreased in the UK, and there appears to be careful sourcing of the rice used in these products to ensure conformity with regulations. There has been an increased presence of mixed cereal products, with rice and maize as the main ingredient, appearing on the UK market, with varying rice contents for infant porridges, cakes and mueslis, with the latter being a relatively innovative product for infant foods. There was a highly significant correlation (P<0.0001) between rice content and inorganic arsenic concentration across all infant foods. When UK infant rice cakes, breakfast cereals and porridges were compare to their general, i.e. not labelled specifically for being for infant consumption, equivalent it was found that the adult foods generally exceeded the 100 μg/kg inorganic arsenic standard for infant foods. Thus, infants should not be given rice products not specifically labelled as being for them if a lower inorganic arsenic diet is to be maintained.

Iodine is deficient in diets worldwide, leading to a range of undesirable health affects at the population level. Dairy products are a primary source of iodine in the diets for those populations in which iodised salt is not systematically utilised or available. Yet, the flows of iodine through dairy agroecosystems are not well understood. The aim of this research was to investigate iodine flows though the dairy agroecosystem; including the influence of atmospheric depositional inputs, environmental variables, season, husbandry and diet. Three farm based sampling campaigns were conducted in this investigation with milk, soil, silage, grass and feed iodine determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy, and non-parametric statistical analysis tests were conducted on data sets obtained. Natural iodine inputs into the environment are dominated by atmospheric deposition, which was dominated by sea spray, and thus location of farms to coast and prevailing wind direction. Herbage, and silage produced from herbage, strongly correlated with soil iodine, yet there was a strong disconnect between soil, forage and feed and the milk that results. This was due to the levels of iodine in supplemental feeds being ~10-fold higher than in forage derived feeds. The practice of feed supplementation, accentuated by summer housing of cows, led to elevated milk iodine.

Summary Samples of mixed herd milks from thirty‐two herds were examined for fat, total solids and solids‐not‐fat content over a period of thirteen days. Day to day variations have been calculated. Estimates of ‘allowable variations’ in composition have been made. Sampling requirements for accurate assessment of the quality of a milk supply are suggested. A comparison of the variability of the composition of mixed herd milks from cows under normal indoor conditions, on grass and in the transitional period between the two has been made.