Survey of metals and other elements in commercial infant foods, infant formula and non-infant specific foods

Overview

The UK Food Standards Agency commissioned a survey of metals and other elements in ready-to-feed infant formula, dry infant formula, commercial infant foods, and other foods consumed by infants and young children. The report is A-tier occurrence and exposure evidence for infant foods because it gives category mean concentrations and total infant-diet exposure estimates. Brand-name products were measured, but the report calculates exposure by category and food group; this page follows that firewall.

Key numbers

• Sample frame: 47 infant formula samples, 200 commercial infant foods, and 50 composite samples of other foods were purchased from UK retail outlets during 2013 and 2014.
• Product basis: all samples were prepared and tested as sold; dry powdered infant formula and dried cereal products such as baby rice were not reconstituted before testing.
• Analytes: aluminum, antimony, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, tin, and zinc were assessed by ICP-MS.
• Ready-to-feed infant formula concentrations used for exposure (µg/l): first milk aluminum (Al) 18-34, total arsenic (tAs) 0-0.3, inorganic arsenic (iAs) 0-0.2, lead (Pb) 0-0.4, mercury (Hg) 0-0.2, Zn 5974; follow-on milk Al 15-31, tAs 0-0.4, iAs 0-0.3, Pb 0-0.5, Hg 0-0.2, Zn 5608.
• Dry powder formula concentrations (µg/kg, as sold): first milk/hungrier milk Al 388-488, tAs 1-3, iAs 0.7-1.8, cadmium (Cd) 3-4, Pb 1-4, Hg 0-1, nickel (Ni) 18-54, tin (Sn) 0-23, Zn 40388.
• Soy-based dry formula concentrations (µg/kg, as sold): Al 2550, tAs 7, iAs 4.6, Cd 11, chromium (Cr) 35-55, Pb 0-5, Mn 2785, Hg 0-1, Ni 200, Se 147, Sn 0-23, Zn 46000.
• Commercial infant foods: snacks had Al 5185 µg/kg, tAs 98 µg/kg, iAs 58-62 µg/kg, Cd 24 µg/kg, Pb 10 µg/kg, Mn 18125 µg/kg, Ni 292 µg/kg, and Zn 12180 µg/kg.
• Commercial infant foods: meat and fish based foods/dishes had Al 1425-1427 µg/kg, tAs 15 µg/kg, iAs 2-4 µg/kg, Cd 9 µg/kg, Pb 4-5 µg/kg, Hg 0-1 µg/kg, Sn 47-52 µg/kg, and Zn 5190 µg/kg.
• Other-food fish composite: tAs 1730 µg/kg, iAs 0-10 µg/kg, Cd 11-12 µg/kg, Hg 56 µg/kg, Se 353 µg/kg, and Sn 17-23 µg/kg.
• Total infant-diet mean/high-level exposure: Al 33-34 / 74-76 µg/kg bw/day; tAs 0.91-0.94 / 4.3-4.4; iAs 0.14-0.18 / 0.41-0.47; Cd 0.25-0.27 / 0.57-0.59; Pb 0.071-0.12 / 0.17-0.26; total mercury (tHg) assumed as methylmercury for exposure 0.022-0.046 / 0.13-0.16.
• Total infant-diet mean/high-level exposure continued: total Cr 0.59-1.0 / 1.7-2.5 µg/kg bw/day; Ni 1.6-2.6 / 3.9-5.6; Sn 38 / 250; Zn 440 / 860.
• Inorganic arsenic exposure generated MOEs of 20 for mean consumers and 6-7 for high-level consumers, rounded to one significant figure.
• The report states all samples were compliant with food safety legislation; the 0.10 mg/kg maximum limit for inorganic arsenic in rice used to produce foods for infants and young children applied from 1st January 2016, after these samples were collected.

Methods (brief)

Hallmark Meat Hygiene purchased formulae, commercial infant foods, and other foods from UK retail outlets. Multi-element analysis used ICP-MS. Category mean concentrations were calculated from brand-name products, but dietary exposures were calculated on food-category and food-group bases using DNSIYC consumption data and lower-/upper-bound assumptions for censored values.

Related evidence

• Infant Formula Powder
• Infant Formula, Powder (Soy-Based)
• Infant Formula, RTF Liquid (Non-Soy)
• Infant Food General
• Baby Food
• Infant Cereal
• Fish-Containing Baby Foods
• Fruit Purees
• Bread and baked goods
• Arsenic, Total
• Arsenic, Inorganic
• Cadmium
• Lead
• Mercury, Total
• Tin

Update history

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