A global approach for prioritizing chemical contaminants in raw materials of food for infants and young children. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stroheker, Thomas; Chung, Yong Joo; Scholz, Gabriele; Mazzatorta, Paolo
• Is Part Of: Food control. Volume 105(2019)
• Page Start: 71
• Page End: 77
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: Infants and young children -- Global food intake -- Chemical contaminants -- Risk assessment -- Risk management; Food -- Quality -- Periodicals; Food -- Analysis -- Periodicals; Food handling -- Periodicals; Food industry and trade -- Quality control -- Periodicals; Aliments -- Industrie et commerce -- Qualité -- Contrôle -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Qualité -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Analyse -- Périodiques; Hygiène alimentaire -- Périodiques; Food -- Analysis; Food handling; Food -- Quality; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 664.07
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.05.024
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0956-7135

Abstract

Abstract: Chemical contaminants can occur at trace levels in foods or food ingredients either as intrinsic toxins produced in plant/animal metabolism or by external contamination due to fungal growth, agricultural practice, environment or food manufacturing processes. Monitoring and managing such unavoidable chemical contaminants in raw materials of foods is important for ensuring safe food for the consumer. The aim of this study was to adapt an existing tool for ranking the chemical contaminants of raw materials used to produce food for infants and young children based on their likelihood to cause harm for the consumer. This tool was built on a risk-assessment based approach. The level of risk was defined according to a decision tree where the overall exposure, the main contributor and the distribution of the occurrence levels are key criteria. For developing this approach, a conservative global food intake scenario for infants and young children was established using several local data publicly available. Two case studies on cadmium and deoxynivalenol are described and showed consistent results with the findings of local total diet studies. In addition, this tool is flexible to adapt to global and specific local populations in adjusting the food intake scenario. It supports risk management in the identification and prioritisation of chemical contaminants. Highlights: Tool for prioritisation of chemical contaminants in raw materials for baby food. Global food intake estimate for infants and young children. Consistency of results from our global model with those of local total diet studies.