Scientific Opinion on Lead in Food

Abstract

Lead occurs primarily in the inorganic form in the environment. Human exposure is mainly via food and water, with some via air, dust and soil. In average adult consumers, lead dietary exposure ranges from 0.36 to 1.24, up to 2.43 µg/kg body weight (b.w.) per day in high consumers in Europe. Exposure of infants ranges from 0.21 to 0.94 µg/kg b.w. per day and in children from 0.80 to 3.10 (average consumers), up to 5.51 (high consumers) µg/kg b.w. per day. Cereal products contribute most to dietary lead exposure, while dust and soil can be important non‐dietary sources in children. Lead is absorbed more in children than in adults and accumulates in soft tissues and, over time, in bones. Half‐lives of lead in blood and bone are approximately 30 days and 10 30 years, respectively, and excretion is primarily in urine and faeces. The Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) identified developmental neurotoxicity in young children and cardiovascular effects and nephrotoxicity in adults as the critical effects for the risk assessment. The respective BMDLs derived from blood lead levels in µg/L (corresponding dietary intake values in µg/kg b.w. per day) were: developmental neurotoxicity BMDL01, 12 (0.50); effects on systolic blood pressure BMDL01, 36 (1.50); effects on prevalence of chronic kidney disease BMDL10, 15 (0.63). The CONTAM Panel concluded that the current PTWI of 25 μg/kg b.w. is no longer appropriate as there is no evidence for a threshold for critical lead‐induced effects. In adults, children and infants the margins of exposures were such that the possibility of an effect from lead in some consumers, particularly in children from 1–7 years of age, cannot be excluded. Protection of children against the potential risk of neurodevelopmental effects would be protective for all other adverse effects of lead, in all populations.

Heavy metal levels in different sizes and tissues of Drepane longimana (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) from Arabian Sea

“…Many studies argued that liver is the main detoxification destiny and one of the most important metal storage organs by the digestive tract [2][3][4][5][6]. It should be kept in mind that the concentration of mainly non-essential metals such as Pb and Cd deposited in the liver depends on the intensity of exposure time and optimum state of renal excretory function [23,24]. The higher level of heavy metals such as Pb in liver relative to other tissues was attributed to the affinity or strong coordination of metallothionein protein with these elements [29].…”

“…The tolerable weekly intake of heavy metals as PTWI (provisional tolerable weekly intake), are set by the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). PTWI is the maximum amount of a contaminant to which a person can be exposed per week over a lifetime without an unacceptable risk of health effects [23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

Metalle und ihre Verbindungen als Kontaminanten in Lebensmitteln

“…Diesbezüglich hat die EFSA den von der WHO im Jahr 1989 festgelegten PTWI-Wert von 7 μg Cd/kgKG, also ca. 500 μg Cd pro Woche bei Erwachsenen, 2009 deutlich auf 2,5 μg Cd/kgKG gesenkt und 2011 bestätigt [13,14] [16,19].…”

Scientific Opinion on the re‐evaluation of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate (E 432), polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate (E 433), polyoxyethylene sorbitan monopalmitate (E 434), polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate (E 435) and polyoxyethylene sorbitan tristearate (E 436) as food additives

“…Contamination at those levels would have a significant impact on the intake to these metals, for which the exposures are already close to the health-based guidance values established by EFSA (EFSA CONTAM Panel, 2009, 2009a, 2010, 2012a). …”