A mycotoxin-dedicated total diet study in the Netherlands in 2013: Part III – exposure and risk assessment

Abstract

In a mycotoxin-dedicated total diet study (mTDS) performed in the autumn and winter of 2013 in the Netherlands, 48 mycotoxins, including patulin, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, fumonisins, zearalenone, trichothecenes, ergot alkaloids, Alternaria toxins, beauvericin and enniatins, were quantified. Analyses were performed in 88 composite samples representative for the consumption pattern of the Dutch population. This article presents the results of the exposure assessment and subsequent risk assessment of these mycotoxins. Exposure was assessed by combining individual food consumption data obtained from the Dutch National Food Consumption Surveys (DNFCS) for young children aged 2-6 years and the population aged 7-69 years with the analytical results of the mTDS, using a lower bound and an upper bound scenario for levels below the limit of detection. Wherever possible, exposure estimates were compared with toxicological reference values, including health-based guidance values. The high level of exposure (95th percentile) exceeded the toxicological reference value regardless of the substitution scenario for ochratoxin A in the population aged 7-69 years, for the sum of T-2 and HT-2 toxins for children aged 2-6 years and for alternariol and alternariol monomethyl ether in both examined populations. The margin of exposure was too small for aflatoxin B1. For the remaining 23 mycotoxins with a toxicological reference value, the estimated exposure was below this level.

Mykotoxine in Lebensmitteln

“…In der einen Studie fanden sich nur für Trichothecene (DON sowie T-2 und HT-2) Expositionen oberhalb der TDI-Werte, und zwar bei einem geringen Anteil der Erwachsenen, aber einem höheren Anteil der Kinder [48]. Die zweite Studie fand für "upper-bound"-Schätzungen zur Exposition Überschreitungen der tolerablen Aufnahme für Ochratoxin A in der Altersgruppe 7-69 Jahre, für die Summe T-2 und HT-2 bei Kindern (2-6 Jahre) sowie für Alternariol und AME in beiden Gruppen [49]. Während für Aflatoxin B1 der "margin of exposure" (s. Die sehr begrenzte Datenlage zur Toxizität der Alternaria-Toxine gestattet bislang keine volle Risikocharakterisierung.…”

Chemical amd physical hazards in the egg production chain in the Netherlands

“…In 2013, a mycotoxin-dedicated total human diet study was performed in the Netherlands showing that the main contributors to DON exposure were bread and cookies and biscuits in in children aged 2-6 years and adults aged 7-69 years. In the latter group, beer and pasta also contribute to the exposure to DON (Sprong et al, 2016;Lopez et al, 2016). Eggs are, therefore, not seen as a major contributor to human DON intake.…”

Challenges in risk assessment of multiple mycotoxins in food

“…TDSs were developed to estimate the exposure of populations to food contaminants, including mycotoxins. From the studies presented in Table 2, Sirot et al (2013) and Sprong et al (2016a) evaluated the exposure of French and Dutch populations, respectively, to mycotoxins.. According to Lee et al (2015), countries as Australia, France, Korea and China had developed their country-specific TDSs including mycotoxins but all countries are encouraged to conduct total diet studies to assess the safety and nutritional quality of diet of their population since TDS is not only a costeffective tool but also a realistic tool for risk assessment of chemicals in foods.…”

“…(Sirot et al, 2013;Sprong et al, 2016b). For the exposure assessment studies, food consumption data were mainly obtained from national food consumption surveys, including different data collection methodologies, namely 1-day (Cressey and Reeve, 2013;Han et al, 2014), 2-day (De Boevre et al, 2013;Sprong et al, 2016a;Van de Perre et al, 2015) and 3-day 24-hour recalls (Zhao et al, 2015), 3-day food diary and 7-day food diary (Sirot et al, 2013), all reported in Table 2.…”