Risk profiling of exposures to potentially toxic metals PTM(s) through noodles consumption. A case study of human health risk assessment

Overview

Jakkielska and colleagues measured lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg) in 20 commercially available noodle/pasta products collected from Polish markets. Acid microwave digestion followed by ICP-MS produced total-metal concentrations for each product, and the authors then calculated ADI, THQ, HI, and CR values for Polish adult consumers. The occurrence finding is that Cd had the highest mean concentration among the four measured metals, while Hg was the lowest on average but had one high sample-level maximum. The arsenic speciation finding is not a direct speciation assay: the authors estimated i-As by applying a 70% conversion factor to total arsenic.

Key numbers

The text reports the lowest total arsenic value in a corn-flour sample and the highest total arsenic value in a wheat-flour sample with spirulina and salt. It reports the lowest cadmium value in a corn-flour sample and the highest cadmium value in a whole-grain buckwheat tube pasta sample. The lowest mercury value was reported for a wheat pasta sample and the highest mercury value for a gluten-free penne sample; the lowest and highest lead values occurred in the same samples as the lowest and highest arsenic values. Product brand names from the source table are intentionally omitted from this page.

Methods (brief)

The authors collected 20 commercially available 500 g noodle/pasta products from different markets in Poland. Samples were ground, 1000 +/- 5 mg was digested with 8 mL of 70% HNO3 in a microwave system, and diluted solutions were analyzed by ICP-MS 2030 (Shimadzu). As was analyzed at mass 75 u, Cd at 114 u, Hg at 202 u, and Pb at 208 u; Sc, Rh, and Tb were used as internal standards. Certified reference materials “Trace metal ICP - sample 1” and “Trace metal ICP - sample 2” gave recoveries of 94-105% for the certified elements except Hg. Values below LOD were treated as half the LOD for health-risk calculations. The study measured total metals; it did not perform arsenic or mercury speciation.

Implications

This source contributes occurrence data for processed non-rice grain pasta/noodles in the Polish market, with a useful split between total-metal measurements and risk-calculation outputs. The Table 2 means and ranges can support product-form occurrence context for pasta/noodles, while the i-As values should remain explicitly labeled as source-estimated from total arsenic rather than measured speciation. The paper is most relevant to product-row routing for pasta-wheat-based and other non-rice grain products, plus metal pages for lead, cadmium, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic as an estimate, and total mercury.

Related evidence

• Non Rice Grains

Update history

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