The 23rd Australian Total Diet Study

Overview

Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s 23rd Australian Total Diet Study measured contaminants, nutrients, and residues in 92 foods and beverages prepared to a table-ready state. The metals chapter is useful as A-tier prepared-food occurrence and exposure context because it measured total arsenic, inorganic arsenic in selected seafoods, cadmium, lead, total mercury, inorganic mercury, and methylmercury. Seafood speciation is kept distinct: total arsenic is not treated as inorganic arsenic, and total mercury is not treated as methylmercury.

Key numbers

• Study frame: 570 composite samples from 92 foods and beverages; each composite contained three primary purchased samples from a single state or territory.
• Sampling windows: foods were purchased in January/February 2008 and June/July 2008; all foods were prepared to a table-ready state before analysis.
• Aluminum: the food with the highest median aluminum concentration was chocolate cake with icing at 87.9 mg/kg.
• Total arsenic: seafood carried the highest total-arsenic concentrations, with median total arsenic in seafood between 0.71 and 2.5 mg/kg.
• Inorganic arsenic: battered fish fillets, frozen fish portions, prawns, and canned tuna were analysed for inorganic arsenic; there were no inorganic-arsenic detections in those sampled seafoods at an LOR of <0.05 mg/kg.
• Total-arsenic exposure: estimated 90th-percentile exposures were 1.0 to 2.8 µg/kg bw/day with non-detects assigned zero, and 1.2-3.2 µg/kg bw/day with non-detects assigned the LOR.
• Cadmium: the food with the highest median cadmium concentration was potato crisps at 0.11 mg/kg; root vegetables such as potatoes contributed 21-27% of cadmium exposure.
• Lead: the food with the highest median lead concentration was honey at 0.04 mg/kg; Table 4 reported mean lead exposure of 0.27 µg/kg bw/day for 2-5 year olds, 0.18 µg/kg bw/day for 6-12 year olds, 0.12 µg/kg bw/day for 13-16 year olds, and 0.13 µg/kg bw/day for adults.
• Lead contributors: water or beverages reconstituted with water contributed 14% of total lead intake for children aged 2-16 years; infant formula contributed 28% of total lead exposure for 9-month-old infants.
• Total mercury: mercury was detected in all but three foods; the highest median total-mercury concentration was battered fish fillets at 0.14 mg/kg.
• Methylmercury: median methylmercury concentrations in seafood ranged from 0.014 to 0.11 mg/kg, from prawns to battered fish fillets.
• Inorganic mercury: median inorganic-mercury concentrations in seafood ranged from 0.011 to 0.020 mg/kg, from prawns to frozen fish portions.
• Inorganic-mercury exposure: 90th-percentile dietary exposures were below the 4 µg/kg bw PTWI for all age groups; the highest 90th-percentile exposure was for 9-month-old infants at 25-40% of the PTWI.

Methods (brief)

FSANZ coordinated sampling through Australian state and territory food regulatory agencies. Regional foods such as fresh produce, meats, eggs, bread, wine, and dairy were sampled in four to six capital cities; national foods such as breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, soft drink, and canned fruit were sampled in two capital cities. Aluminum, calcium, iron, and potassium used ICP-AES; arsenic, cadmium, lead, strontium, and vanadium used ICP-MS; and total mercury, methylmercury, and inorganic mercury used ion chromatography with ICP-MS.

Related evidence

• Seafood
• Fresh Fish
• Canned Fish — REDIRECT (Cat 6 → canned-seafood)
• Shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, oysters, mussels)
• Honey
• Chocolate
• Snacks Crackers Biscuits — REDIRECT (Cat 7 sub-variant of Snacks, general)
• Arsenic, Total
• Arsenic, Inorganic
• Cadmium
• Lead
• Mercury, Total
• Methylmercury

Update history

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