Cadmium dietary exposure in the European population

Overview

The European Food Safety Authority reviewed cadmium occurrence in foods on the European market and estimated dietary exposure using the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database. Food was the dominant exposure pathway considered for the non-smoking population. The report provides broad FoodEx occurrence statistics and exposure-contribution rankings for cadmium; it does not provide brand-level product comparisons.

Key numbers

The final occurrence dataset comprised 178,541 cadmium results. About half of the available food samples were non-detects or below the limit of quantification. Individual quantified values ranged from 0.001 µg/kg in drinking water to 61,000 µg/kg in horse kidney.

Table 2 reports lower-, middle-, and upper-bound mean cadmium occurrence values in µg/kg for FoodEx categories matched to consumption. Selected middle-bound means include:

The report states that 13 of 144 FoodEx categories with consumption information had a middle-bound mean above 100 µg/kg, including algal formulations, cocoa powder, bitter and bitter-sweet chocolate, crustaceans, edible offal, fish and seafood not specified beyond FoodEx Level 1, frogs’ legs, cultivated fungi, wild fungi, oilseeds, seaweeds, and water molluscs.

For lifetime dietary exposure, the overall middle-bound weekly average was estimated at 2.04 µg/kg body weight, and a potential middle-bound 95th percentile was estimated at 3.66 µg/kg body weight. Individual dietary survey results varied between a weekly minimum lower-bound average of 1.15 and maximum upper-bound average of 7.84 µg/kg body weight; the lower-bound-to-upper-bound 95th percentile range was 2.01 to 12.1 µg/kg body weight.

The main broad contributors to cadmium exposure across age groups were grains and grain products (26.9%), vegetables and vegetable products (16.0%), and starchy roots and tubers (13.2%). At more detailed category level, potatoes (13.2%), bread and rolls (11.7%), fine bakery wares (5.1%), chocolate products (4.3%), leafy vegetables (3.9%), and water molluscs (3.2%) contributed most across age groups. At the finest detail summarized in the report, wheat bread and rolls contributed 6.4%, boiled potatoes 5.7%, pastries and cakes 4.0%, potatoes unspecified 3.1%, rice 3.0%, and carrots 2.2%.

Methods (brief)

EFSA used cadmium occurrence results submitted through the 2007 call for data and later annual contaminant-data submissions. Results with LOD above 100 µg/kg or LOQ above 200 µg/kg were excluded. Foods were grouped by the FoodEx classification system and matched to individual-level food consumption and body-weight data from chronic dietary surveys in the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database. Lower-, middle-, and upper-bound exposure estimates were calculated to handle left-censored data; lower-bound exposure was used to rank food-group contributions.

Update history

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