Evaluation of daily intake of PCDD/Fs and indicator PCBs in formula-fed Spanish children

Susana Lorán (1) , Pilar Conchello (2) , Susana Bayarri (2) , Antonio Herrera (2)

1 Department of Animal Production and Food Science
2 Department of Animal Production and Food Science

Human exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) occurs predominantly via food intake. In this study, the exposure assessment of these pollutants has been worked out in formula-fed children up to one year of age. PCDD/Fs concentration in the analyzed infant formulae was low, raging between 0.09 and 0.17 pg WHO-TEQ g-1 fat and between 0.30 and 0.46 pg WHO-TEQ g-1 fat when results were calculated with the lower and medium bound values, respectively. Indicator PCBs contamination level was below 1 ng g-1 fat in all cases. Thus, the estimated PCDD/Fs and indicator PCBs daily intake of infant babies has been assessed taking into account the above mentioned contamination levels as well as different scenarios of body weight and food consumption data for children aged 0 to 12 months. The results vary in the different scenarios considered, but on the whole, the daily estimated dioxin and indicator PCBs intake of the average infant population due to the consumption of infant formulae does not exceed the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 2 pg WHO-TEQ kg-1 b.w. day-1 (SCF, 2001) nor the threshold of 10 ng kg-1 b.w. day-1, value proposed by the Dutch National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM), respectively (Baars et al. 2001).

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Susana Lorán, Pilar Conchello, Susana Bayarri, Antonio Herrera. Evaluation of daily intake of PCDD/Fs and indicator PCBs in formula-fed Spanish children. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2009, 26 (10), pp.1421-1431. ⟨10.1080/02652030903100034⟩. ⟨hal-00573902⟩