Food surveillance surveys

Food surveillance surveys give concentration values in either p,g/kg (ppb) or mg/kg (ppm). However, concentration data derived using simulants normally give results in pg/dm or mg/dm, therefore in order to relate these values to concentrations in foodstuffs it is necessary to know the actual surface to... 

MAFF (1996) Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Survey of plasticizer levels in food contact materials and in foods. Food Surveillance Papers No 21, UK... 

JFSSG (1999a) Survey of retail paper and board food packaging materials for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Food Surveillance Information Sheet 174, available from the Food Standards Agency, Room 303b, P.O. Box 31037, London SW1P 3WG, Tel. No. +44 (0)20 7238 6245/6150, fax +44 (0)20 7238 6330 or email informationcentre foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk. 

In the UK the Joint Food Science and Safety Group of the Department of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have published the results of many analyses for chemical contaminants in food carried out under their Food Surveillance Programme. In many cases the raw data from these surveys are available for analysis. Table 2.1 lists the results of analyses for lead in some samples of cow, sheep and pig kidney obtained in Scotland and England.5 There are clear differences between species and some evidence of differences between sampling locations. What is not clear is the extent to which the variability observed is due to real and consistent differences between species and location or to normal biological variation. 

MAFF. 1994. MAFF UK - Survey of Styrene in Food. Food Surveillance Information Sheet. No. 38. October. 

MAFF. Survey of Lead in Food Second Supplementary Report, Food Surveillance Paper No. 10, HMSO, London, 1972. 

Steering Group on Food Surveillance (1985) The Working Party on the Monitoring of Foodstuffs for Heavy Metals. Survey of Aluminium, Antimony, Chromium, Cobalt, Indium, Nickel, Thallium, and Tin in Food, pp. 1-76. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Surveillance Paper No. 15, HMSO, London, UK. 

MAFF. 1998. Food surveillance information sheet. MAFF-UK - Phthalates in infant formula - follow-up survey. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, http //www.foodstandards.gov.uk/maff. October 16, 2000. 

FSA (April 2001) Survey of Bisphenols in Canned Foods. Food Surveillance Information Sheet Number 13/01, Food Standards Agency. 

Survey of Vinyl Chloride Content of Polyvinyl Chloridefor Food Contact and of Foods. Food Surveillance Paper No 2, (1978), HMSO. 

Much emphasis has been placed in this chapter on the use of survey information as a source of information in controlling chemical contamination of food. This has helped governments around the world to assess problems in this area. They have found that surveillance can stimulate action as well as press coverage. The key is to ensure that action is taken when problems are found. In no particular order the main options are ... 

A comprehensive programme of work for the surveillance of the food supply has been established for a long time in the United Kingdom to ensure that contamination of the food supply by inorganic contaminants is kept to a minimum.1 The surveys under this programme have provided a considerable amount of data that are of value for use in estimating the dietary exposure to the various contaminants. 

Most of the surveys on metals and metalloids in food have concentrated on those elements that are known to be toxic, or where there are possible concerns about their levels in food. In the course of collecting the data, information on other metals is often collected in addition. Other metals that have been included in the UK Government s surveillance are zinc, antimony, chromium, cobalt, indium, nickel, thallium and tin. 

The findings of the survey mentioned above point to the need for continuing surveillance and control of the food supply for these organochlorines even though their uses as pesticides are likely to decline to negligible levels in coming years. Fortunately methods of analysis for them in food are well developed, there are extensive databases built up over many years with which to compare new surveillance data, and there are ADIs for some if not all of the substances. 

One of the main issues with concentration data is how the non-detectable (ND) values are treated. In many instances the substance(s) of interest is non-detectable in either food simulants or real foodstuffs. In a UK FSA survey (2000) for BADGE (bisphenol A diglycidyl ether) in caimed foodstuffs, in more than 95% (105 of III targeted samples tested) of the foodstuffs tested the levels were non-detectable. Using targeted foodstuffs in any surveillance will always skew any results to a higher level, in that only foodstuffs considered most likely to contain the substance will typically be analysed. 

Food Standards Agency 2002. Survey of nuts, nut products and dried tree fruits for mycotoxins. March 5, 2004http //www.foodstandards.gov.uk/science/surveillance/fsis-2002/21nuts and http // www.foodstandards.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/21nuts.pdfMarch 5, 2004. 

AFBi dietary exposure estimates were assessed in Japan based on food consumption data from the 2005 National Health and Nutrition Survey for 2 consecutive days (17 827 individuals). Surveillance data on AFBi concentration levels were available from a retail food survey, with samples purchased in a random manner from local supermarkets and small retail shops in all parts of Japan from the summer of 2004 to the winter of 2006 (Sugita-Konishi et al., 2007). Foods analysed included peanut, peanut butter, chocolate, pistachio, spices, almond, job s tears tea and buckwheat. A probabilistic approach was used to simulate the dietary exposure distributions in each age group with three different scenarios of MLs of AFT in tree nuts (10, 15 and 20 pg/kg), following the same methodology as described previously for the EFSA opinion and assuming a lognormal distribution for occurrence data. 

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