Occurrence data of nickel in feed and animal exposure

Overview

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Member states, among FoodEx level 1 feed categories, the highest mean Ni levels were measured in
‘Minerals and products derived thereof’ (n = 72). High mean Ni concentrations were also observed in
‘Compound feed’ (n = 516), in particular in complementary feeds for fattening cattles, unspeciﬁed
(n = 597), the highest mean Ni concentrations were measured in oats. In addition, Ni concentrations
from good manufacturing practice in hydrogenated vegetable oils/fats (50 mg Ni/kg) varied between
In addition, 663 Ni analytical results on hydrogenated vegetable oils/fats were provided by industry.
(n = 712) and within that, the highest Ni mean concentrations were observed for unspeciﬁed forages
Ni levels were measured in ‘Minerals and products derived thereof’ (n = 72) reported at the mean level
of 3,896 lg/kg for LB and 3,905 lg/kg for UB. High mean Ni concentrations were observed in
‘Compound feed’ (n = 516), in particular in complementary feeds for fattening cattles (n = 26; LB and
and complementary feeds for fattening pigs (n = 6; LB and UB mean = 4,344 lg/kg). Within grains
(n = 597), the highest mean Ni concentrations were measured in oats (n = 26; LB mean = 1,690 lg/
thereof’ (n = 204), the highest Ni concentration were reported for toasted soya (n = 13; LB and UB
category ‘Miscellaneous’ (n = 68), a substantial number of data was available only for glycerine
For the samples of hydrogenated vegetable oils/fats (n = 663) falling in the feed category ‘Oil
127 lg/kg bw per day in rabbits. The mean exposure estimates considering the maximum Ni
vegetable oils/fats (50 mg Ni/kg) has led to a considerable overestimation of the real animal exposure
per day was identiﬁed based on reduced feed intake and growth. For pigs, NOAEL of 12.8 mg/kg bw
3.75 mg/kg bw per day was identiﬁed based on reduced relative weights of liver, kidneys, ovaries,
9.4 mg/kg bw per day was identiﬁed based on decreased bone density. For ﬁsh, a NOAEL of 0.2 mg
NOAEL of 18 mg/kg bw per day was identiﬁed based on ﬁndings of vomiting, polyuria, lung lesions
estimated mean upper-bound (UB) exposures ranged from 5.1 (fattening beef cattle) to 61.7 lg/kg bw
per day (laying hens and chickens for fattening). In an alternative worst-case scenario, a 5% inclusion
resulting in mean UB exposures of 60 lg/kg bw per day for cattle, 180 lg/kg bw per day for pigs and
exposure to Ni (LB) ranged between 9.4% (lowest LB in ‘Other children’) and 29.1% (highest LB in
the exposure calculation are reported in Appendix A, Tables A.1.1, A.1.2 and A.1.3. These values are
presented in Appendix A, Table A.2. For ruminants, the contribution of non-forage feed to the total
diet was estimated to be: 40% for dairy cows, 85% and 50% for beef cattle reared on forage-based
and cereal-based diets, respectively, 50% for sheep lactating, 75% and 40% for dairy and fattening
55% and 65% of the diets, respectively. It is to be noted that these diets used to calculate exposure
EFSA CONTAM Panel (2015a) of 5% hydrogenated vegetable oil in the compound feed was retained.
major contributor of data was Slovakia which reported 81% of data, followed by the Czech Republic
an overestimation of the contamination levels, results reported as ‘Suspect sampling’ (n = 14) were
Section 3.1.1.3). An evaluation of appropriateness of LODs/LOQs was performed by comparing of the
nominal concentration between 100 lg/kg and 1,000 lg/kg would be 11%. When the differences
lower than this speciﬁed percentage, no LOQ cut-offs shall be applied on the data set (EFSA, 2018).
The majority of the Ni data (98%) were obtained for samples collected within ofﬁcial EU or national
Results were reported on whole weight (97% of analytical results) or on 88% DM (3% of analytical
Recoveries of the analytical methods were reported only for 1% of the data. Nevertheless, the
analytical results were submitted to EFSA as corrected for recovery in approximately 83% of cases.
10% of results were not corrected for recovery and for 7% of the results this information was not
The analytical results reported by Member States and included in the ﬁnal data set (n = 2,198)

Methods (brief)

species. In total, 14 analytical results collected within the suspect sampling strategy were excluded.
The feed samples were collected between 2007 and 2018 in nine different European countries,
For the samples of hydrogenated vegetable oils/fats (n = 663) falling in the feed category ‘Oil
Information on the analytical methods used to analyse Ni in feed samples was provided for all data
included in the data set. The majority of samples were analysed by atomic absorption spectrometry
(AAS), either reported without information or with information on the atomising unit used
(electrothermal AAS (ET AAS)/graphite furnace AAS (GF AAS)).
these feeds are difﬁcult to use for exposure calculations due to the low number of samples available
samples across Europe. The data set was characterised by a limited number of occurrence data, in
the hydrogenated vegetable oils/fats. Samples with left-censored data introduced uncertainties to the
mineral feeds and mineral premixtures should be collected since these materials are those contributing
The data submission to EFSA followed the requirements of the EFSA Guidance on Standard Sample
‘Limit of detection’, and the codiﬁcation of samples feed samples according to the catalogue of feed
The left-censored (LC) data (results below the limit of detection (LOD) or below limit of quantiﬁcation
(LOQ)) were treated by the substitution method as recommended in the ‘Principles and Methods for the
mycotoxins). The LB is obtained by assigning a value of zero (minimum possible value) to all samples
reported as lower than the LOD (< LOD) or LOQ (< LOQ). The UB is obtained by assigning the numerical
value of LOD to values reported as < LOD and LOQ to values reported as < LOQ (maximum possible

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Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Change	Description
b01ec52c	2026-08-04	major	2 sections added
d49e450f	2026-08-03	major	5 sections added; narrative text revised