Survey of Lead, Cadmium, Fluoride, Nickel, and Cobalt in Food Composites and Estimation of Dietary Intakes of These Elements by Canadians in 1986-1988

Overview

Key numbers

The abstract reports mean and range concentrations in individual samples as follows:

The highest mean lead levels in individual composites were reported for canned luncheon meats 163 ng/g, canned beans 158 ng/g, canned citrus fruit 126 ng/g, canned peaches 133 ng/g, canned pears 131 ng/g, and canned and raw cherries 203 ng/g. In canned foods, mean lead levels decreased from 73.6 ng/g in 1985 to 46 ng/g in 1988, and median levels decreased from 42.7 ng/g in 1986 to 8.4 ng/g in 1988.

For cadmium, the paper reports overall mean, median, and range values of 9.96, 2.37, and <0.02-167 ng/g. The highest individual-composite cadmium levels were in meat organs 120 ng/g, wheat and bran cereals 56.5 ng/g, potato chips 93 ng/g, and peanut butter 50 ng/g. Food categories with the highest mean cadmium concentrations were bakery goods and cereals 16.6 ng/g, vegetables 16.5 ng/g, and fats and oils 17.4 ng/g.

For nickel, the paper reports overall mean, median, and range values of 196, 59, and <1-2521 ng/g. Food categories with the highest mean nickel concentrations were meat and poultry 385 ng/g, soups 291 ng/g, bakery goods and cereals 256 ng/g, and fats and oils 566 ng/g.

For cobalt, the paper reports overall mean, median, and range values of 9.4, 4.1, and <0.3-75.7 ng/g. Food categories with the highest mean cobalt levels were fish 19.9 ng/g, bakery goods and cereals 17.9 ng/g, and fats and oils 16.1 ng/g; the major contributor within fats and oils was peanut butter at 35.7 ng/g.

Table 5 reports dietary intakes in ug/day:

Table 6 reports food-category contributions to dietary intake across all ages and sexes. The highest contributors were beverages for lead (20.9%) and fluoride (80.0%), bakery goods and cereals for cadmium (36.8%) and cobalt (29.8%), vegetables for cadmium (40.3%) and cobalt (21.9%), and meat and poultry for nickel (37.0%).

Methods (brief)

Foods were purchased at retail level in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax, prepared for consumption, homogenized, grouped into 113 composites and 39 composite subsets per city set, and rehomogenized. Lead, cadmium, cobalt, and nickel were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry after nitric/perchloric acid digestion and ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate coprecipitation. Fluoride was determined by fluoride-specific electrode after microdiffusion separation. Quality control used recovery studies and reference materials, including Prosobee infant formula powder, NRCC DORM-1 dogfish muscle, and NIST citrus leaves.

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