Market Basket Analysis

An increase in iodine intake is only the first step in the amehoration of iodine deficiency. The increase must be sustained, which has not always been the case. In the United States, iodine supplementation of salt and other foods has never been mandated by the government. Furthermore, the iodine content of most foods is not listed on package labels. The last market basket analysis for US iodine intake was conducted in 1982—1994, and reported in 1996 (Pennington and Schoen 1996). Public awareness of the primary sources of iodine in the US diet and its importance in our daily diet has not been stressed. 

As with any residue method, a method used in an LSMBS method should include analysis of control commodities to demonstrate adequate selectivity and analysis of fortified control samples to demonstrate recovery. These aspects present a particular challenge in every food-based market basket survey, because, unlike field residue studies, control samples of known provenance are not available. 

Between 1979 and 1989 there was a virtual elimination of the use of lead-soldered food cans, with a concomitant drop in lead levels in food. Average daily intakes of lead for adults, based on an analysis of 27 market basket samples taken nationwide for a 1980-1982 Total Diet Study, were as follows (Gartrell etal. 1986b) ... 

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers. Information on the relative importance of different routes of exposure to PBDEs is limited. Data on the concentrations of PBDEs in foods, collected using a market-basket approach, are needed to determine concentrations of PBDEs in foods consumed by the general population. Data on the PBDE concentrations in foods grown in contaminated areas, particularly in the vicinity of hazardous waste sites, are also needed. Data on congener-specific PBDE analysis of food, especially plant products, would be useful. More monitoring data on the concentrations of total PBDEs as well as conquers in air in remote, rural, urban, and areas near hazardous waste sites and incinerators are needed. Data on PBDE concentrations in finished drinking water nationwide would be helpful. 

The FDA has also performed its Total Diet Study annually since 1961. This study involves a market basket collection of foods from four chosen geographical regions and three cities in each region per year. Each market basket is comprised of 261 different food samples and the foods are prepared for table-ready consumption prior to analysis. Estimates of daily exposures of population subgroups to pesticide residues in the diet are attained by considering the results of the Total Diet Study samples and food consumption estimates obtained from national food consumption surveys (FDA, 2000). 

Dietary nuclide intakes are estimated by several methods (WHO, 1983), e.g., selective studies of individual foods, market basket studies, model dish studies and duplicate portion studies. The first procedure involves the estimation of mean dietary nuclide intakes by collecting staple foods, which are consumed by the subject, and then chemically analyzing them. In market basket studies, individual or composite foods obtained from food stores in the area are analyzed. Data on the food consumption rates of the average person then take on an especially important role. Model dish studies involve the preparation of typical dishes based on both food and dish consumption data and analysis of each dish. Duplicate portion studies offer the greatest degree of reality compared to the other methods. At a minimum, all meals consumed by an individual during one day are chemically analyzed. After the accident in the Ukraine, data on the dietary intakes of Cs, °Sr and transuranium have come from analyses of staple individual foodstuffs. Total diet studies for Ukrainians are scarce. 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 1985. Market-basket survey preUminaiy results for lead analysis. As cited in U.S. EPA, 1986a, Ch. 7. 

Plant material Fresh Black Perigord Truffles (Tuber Melanosporum) for analysis were purchased by Pebeyre Ltd., a company specializing in truffle marketing. Collected essentially in the South East of France, they were fully ripe (4) and released their characteristic aroma. Received the day after gathering in wicker-baskets,-truffles were hsmd-picked and then stocked in a cold storage of 15 m. ... 

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