Food basket

Preparation of a data bank of figures for nutritional content of a typical food basket ... 

In other studies, Tao and Bolger (1998) estimated in a US FDA total diet study a total As intake by food group for 25- to 30-year-old men and 18 food baskets a mean total daily intake of 56.6 pg, with 92% for the seafood products group. Ysart et al. 

Finally, organic fresh finits and vegetables currently dominate the organic consumer s food basket. 

Metabolism studies are required in the laboratory animal species used to determine the toxicological NOEL, as well as each food-producing animal species. ADIs are based on total residues of drug plus all metabolites, whereas MRLs comprise a single, quantifiable marker residue, most commonly the parent compound but in some instances a single metabolite or a mixture of compounds. To establish the MRL for each tissue, food consumption estimates are made on the basis of an assumed standard meal (the so-called food basket), as discussed further in Section 2.5.2.2. 

Three factors determine exposure assessment quantity of food consumed, residue concentration in that food, and the marker residue total residue ratio. The food basket adopted by most authorities comprises ... 

In the EU, for example, the food basket comprises, for mammals, muscle (300 g), liver (100 g), kidney (50 g), and fat (50 g) and, if appropriate, milk, eggs, and honey (for poultry, 10 g kidney and 90 g fat). For poultry and pigs, the MRL for fat relates to fat and skin in natural proportions in the EU, while for fin fish, muscle includes muscle and skin in natural proportions. In general, a numerically greater MRL is allowed for foods likely to be consumed infrequently or in small amounts (e.g., kidney relative to muscle). In addition, residues that occur in food of plant origin or that come from the environment need to be considered when fixing the MRL. 

On the basis of the food basket, the EU authority (EMA/CVMP) then requires applicants for MAs to estimate the theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) for persons weighing 60 kg, applying the equation ... 

It is clear that all regulatory authority approaches to predicting dietary exposure are very conservative, in that all are higher than actual dietary intake. These conservative assumptions are as follows daily consumption for a lifetime of the model food basket, the treatment of all animals at the maximum recommended dose rate and duration, slaughter of treated animals at the WhT, and the presence of residues in all edible tissues (including milk and eggs) at the MRL (TMDI calculation) or at median residue concentrations (EDI calculation). The conservative... 

Morocco A number of studies were carried out in Morocco to evaluate the annual committed effective doses from consumption of uranium and thorium in a typical Moroccan food basket (Misdaq and Bourzik 2004). FTA analysis was used to determine the content of U and Th in some popular food products (fruit, vegetables, and cereals), and the results were compared with those obtained by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) finding between 0.26 and 0.56 pg g for most products tested. The final estimation was that the annual intake for members of the Moroccan population was 451 27 Bq year (note that 1.24 Bq day is equivalent to -100 pg day ) and 359 20 Bq year for and Th, respectively. This study did not include the intake from drinking water. These values are about 100 times higher than the estimates from most other studies—and this is probably due to a calculation error. 

The universal applicability of the analytical procedure developed and adapted to the utilization of voltammetric determination methods (Figure 11) has been featured by extensive investigations on all components of the human food basket[85,86]. Table 6 gives an impression on the magnitude of toxic metal levels to be expected in the various food types. 

Family allowance programs are common in OECD European countries. Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Benefits are often small—a few US. dollars a month, representing a fraction of the cost of the food basket—although in some middle-income transition states, including the Czech Republic and Hungary, they provide a more substantial contribution to the cost of raising a child. Family allowances can take various forms, such as means-tested child benefits similar to needs-based transfers as used in the Czech Republic, Poland, and South Africa (box 7.2) birth grants or universal transfers for all... 

As bread is the major staple in the food basket of urban consumers, the government was concerned that a rise in the price of bread would hurt the poor and the middle class and that their opposition would undermine the reforms. To win support for the price liberalization and avoid a costly policy reversal that might be necessitated by social unrest, it offered temporary compensation to a population group substantially larger than the number of poor, over and above the existing, well-woven, safety net. 

In the case of pesticides, the calculation of Maximum Residue Levels (in mg/kg food) also reflects the quantity of food consumed. The MRL is calculated from the equation MRL = ADI x body weight/food consumption in kg. If the same toxic substance is present in several foods, then the food basket (food per day) is examined, and the total amount of toxic substance must not exceed the determined value. Information about the chronic effects of toxic substances is provided by long-term tests on sub-chronic and chronic toxicity. 

Two recent studies from the United Kingdom and Spain on the occurrence of PFASs in the food basket proved that the most important sources of human exposure are fish, fish products and drinking water (surface water is considered one of the major sources of perfluorinated substances). The PFASs occurring in the highest concentrations were PFOS and PFOA, which are the substances most commonly found in the environment. Table 12.57 summarises the amounts of PFOS and PFOA in selected foods in Spain, as an example. 

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