Total Diet Study: Dietary Exposure to Organic Environmental Contaminants (Ongoing)

Total diet studies have not been carried out since 2000 for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),and since 2001 for dioxins/furans (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Since then, regulatory controls have been introduced, so dietary exposure should have fallen. <P>

In 2004, total diet studies were also carried out for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs) and perfluorinated substances (PFAS). Although no controls have been introduced for food, the manufacture and use of PBDEs and PFAS has been phased out, but there is no information as to whether this has had an impact on levels in food.

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About 1,000 food samples will be bought and prepared as instructed by Ventress. These will then be supplied to Fera, who will combine them into 19 food groups and then analyse them for a range of contaminants: PCDD/Fs, PCBs, PAHs, PBDEs, HBCDDs, PFAS, polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) and mixed halogenated dioxins/furans./biphenyls (PXDD/Fs, PXBs). A set of duplicate diet samples will also be tested, to evaluate an alternative approach.
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Total diet studies attempt to estimate exposure to substances of interest or concern through the whole of the diet, rather than individual foods. For this project, there are several objectives:

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to verify that controls introduced since a previous study have been effective, and to determine if controls need to be tightened further (for example, dioxins and PCBs, PAHs)</LI> <LI>
to establish trends and current exposure for contaminants for which the EU may wish to introduce limits in the future (PBDEs, HBCDDs, PFAS)</LI> <LI>
to establish a baseline for newly-emerging contaminants where knowledge of dietary exposure is very limited (PCNs, PXDD/Fs, PXBs).</LI> </uL>