Statement on arsenic in food: results of the 1999 Total Diet Study

Overview

The UK Committee on Toxicity reviewed the Food Standards Agency’s 1999 Total Diet Study analysis of total and inorganic arsenic in food. The statement is an A-tier agency interpretation of occurrence and exposure data across UK total-diet food groups. It is especially useful because it reports total arsenic and inorganic arsenic separately and explicitly states that fish arsenic was predominantly organic rather than inorganic.

Key numbers

• Study design: 119 food categories were collected from 24 UK towns and made into 20 composite food groups.
• Analytical frame: each of the 24 samples of the 20 food groups was analysed in duplicate for total and inorganic arsenic.
• Limits of detection: inorganic arsenic LOD was 0.01mg/kg in all food groups; total arsenic LOD ranged from 0.0005 to 0.004 mg/kg across food groups.
• Fish total arsenic from the earlier 1998 multi-element survey: commonly consumed cod, haddock, salmon, and tuna had 1.9 mg/kg - 8.4 mg/kg fresh weight, with mean 4.6 mg/kg.
• 1999 TDS total arsenic: highest mean levels were fish 3214 µg/kg with range 1106-8423 µg/kg, poultry 73.1 µg/kg with range <2.1-167 µg/kg, and miscellaneous cereals 13 µg/kg with range <2.1-26 µg/kg.
• Inorganic arsenic detections: detected in 20 of 24 fish samples, 10 of 24 miscellaneous-cereals samples, and 3 of 24 poultry samples.
• Upper-bound mean inorganic arsenic: fish 15.9 µg/kg, poultry 12.5 µg/kg, and miscellaneous cereals 11.6 µg/kg.
• The mean inorganic-arsenic concentration in fish was less than 0.5% of total arsenic.
• Adults: total-arsenic mean exposure 1.33 µg/kg body-weight/day; inorganic-arsenic mean exposure 0.018 - 0.082 µg/kg body-weight/day; total-arsenic 97.5th percentile 4.37; inorganic-arsenic 97.5th percentile 0.043 - 0.14.
• Toddlers aged 1.5-4.5 years: total-arsenic mean exposure 2.43 - 2.46 µg/kg body-weight/day; inorganic-arsenic mean exposure 0.049 - 0.2; total-arsenic 97.5th percentile 11.31 - 11.34; inorganic-arsenic 97.5th percentile 0.11 - 0.34.
• Upper-bound population mean exposure was 0.83 µg/kg bw/day for total arsenic and 0.09 µg/kg bw/day for inorganic arsenic.
• Drinking-water context: the statement notes that water at 10 µg/L arsenic and 2 L/day consumption would contribute up to 20 µg/day, or 0.28 µg/kg bw/day for a 70kg adult.

Methods (brief)

The FSA collected UK total-diet food categories and composited them into food groups reflecting average UK consumption. Total arsenic was measured by direct-nebulisation ICP-MS and hydride-generation ICP-MS; inorganic arsenic was measured by high-resolution ICP-MS. Specific organic arsenic compounds were not measured.

Related evidence

• Seafood
• Fresh Fish
• Canned Fish — REDIRECT (Cat 6 → canned-seafood)
• Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck)
• Breakfast Cereals
• Arsenic, Total
• Arsenic, Inorganic

Update history

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