Dietary intake of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs of the Belgian population

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe World Health Organization recommends assessing human exposure to contaminants on a regular basis. In order to assess the current dietary exposure of the Belgian adult population to PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs and to update exposure estimates of 2000-2001, a total diet study was designed. The mean dietary intake of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs in the Belgian adult population in 2008 was estimated to be 0.72 pg TEQ kgbw À1 d À1 (middle bound concentrations, TEF of 1998) based on occurrence data of 2008 and national food consumption data of 2004. This value is clearly below the Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) of 14 pg TEQ kgbw À1 week À1 set by the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commission and below the provisional tolerable monthly intake of 70 pg TEQ kgbw À1 month À1 set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Considering the cumulative distribution, the intake was less than 1 pg TEQ kgbw À1 d À1 for more than 80% of the population, and less than 2 pg TEQ kgbw À1 d À1 for the entire population. When using the 2005 TEF instead of the 1998 TEF, the mean dietary intake in the Belgian adult population was estimated to be 0.61 pg TEQ kgbw À1 d À1 .

Potential impact of fertilization practices on human dietary intake of dioxins in Belgium

“…A first one from Focant et al (2002), proposing an average ingestion of 2.04 pg TEQ/kg bw day, a second one from Bilau et al (2008), proposing an average ingestion of 1.74 pg CALUX-TEQ/kg bw day and finally, one from Windal et al (2010), proposing an average ingestion of 0.72 pg TEQ/kg bw day. Data for Belgian dioxin ingestion used in this study are based partly on Focant et al (2002) and partly on Windal et al (2010).…”

“…A first one from Focant et al (2002), proposing an average ingestion of 2.04 pg TEQ/kg bw day, a second one from Bilau et al (2008), proposing an average ingestion of 1.74 pg CALUX-TEQ/kg bw day and finally, one from Windal et al (2010), proposing an average ingestion of 0.72 pg TEQ/kg bw day. Data for Belgian dioxin ingestion used in this study are based partly on Focant et al (2002) and partly on Windal et al (2010). We worked with the dietary data from Focant et al (2002) because they are based on agricultural productions (raw products) and not on food consumption (processed products) but we used the food dioxin levels from Windal et al (2010) because they consider all the DL-PCBs and not only the nonortho PCBs.…”

“…Data for Belgian dioxin ingestion used in this study are based partly on Focant et al (2002) and partly on Windal et al (2010). We worked with the dietary data from Focant et al (2002) because they are based on agricultural productions (raw products) and not on food consumption (processed products) but we used the food dioxin levels from Windal et al (2010) because they consider all the DL-PCBs and not only the nonortho PCBs. The values for the increase of the human daily intake of dioxins due to fertilizers application are low for scenarios based on solid fertilizers (up to +3.30%) and high for scenarios including liquid fertilizers (from +4.90 to +254.15%).…”

“…For Belgium, typical human diet composition is taken from Focant et al (2002) while typical food dioxin contamination levels are taken from Windal et al (2010).…”

Dioxins, furans, and polychlorinated biphenyls in hen eggs – a new source of hazard for consumers?

“…The concern about an increased exposure to dioxins is not only related to those cases in which estimated exposure exceeded toxicological reference values. Based on the literature, an average contribution of eggs to total exposure to the sum of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in Europe does not, in general, exceed 5-6% (14,15,16,22,27,30), with the exposure of children always higher than that estimated for adults. Although it is known that incidental or shortterm consumption of products containing excessive levels of dioxins do not automatically constitute a health hazard, it must be emphasised that from the public health perspective, each additional exposure to these contaminants should be treated as superfluous.…”