The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is urgently calling for data on the content of arsenic species in food and beverages.
Background
Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment and is present in
soil, ground water and plants. It exists in different forms, of which
inorganic arsenic is the most toxic, and as a variety of arsenic
compounds.
More recently, methods for determination of inorganic arsenic have
become available. Apart from drinking water, which is well known to
significantly contribute to inorganic arsenic exposure, some studies
suggest that rice and rice-based products could also contribute
significantly to inorganic arsenic exposure. Other possible
contributors to inorganic arsenic exposure identified were fish and
seafood, cereals, root vegetables, seaweed, food supplements, mushrooms
and tea. As rice-based products are often used in weaning foods for
infants, exposure of infants to arsenic is of great importance and
should be assessed.
The European Commission has requested that the EFSA evaluate the risks
to human health related to the presence of arsenic in foodstuffs
(including drinking water). In addition the Commission also asked EFSA
to assess:
- the typical ratios between inorganic and organic arsenic forms in different groups of foodstuffs;
- the
contribution of different foodstuffs to human exposure for total
arsenic and inorganic arsenic, including the contribution from drinking
water; and
- the exposure of specific population groups
(e.g. high consumers, infants and children, people following specific
diets, etc.) and to provide an indication of the age group in which
children would be most exposed to the toxic effects of arsenic.
Call for data
In addressing exposure, there is an important need to collect
recent analytical data on arsenic levels in foodstuffs. Where specific
data on inorganic arsenic or organic arsenic species are available,
these should be provided separately, clearly specifying in the Excel
table in the column "Contaminant Classification Code", which form of
arsenic the analytical result relates to. If such data are not
available total arsenic should be reported, specifying the code for
"Total Arsenic" in the Excel table (codes for these entries are
specified in Appendix 8 of the pdf document arsenic.pdf).
Closing date for the data submissions on arsenic is 14 November 2008,
with the objective to collect all available data analysed during the
time period from January 2003 to November 2008. These data will be used
to produce the EFSA opinion on arsenic in food in response to the EC
question EFSA-2008-425.
There is a further need to speciate arsenic compounds in more detail
made possible through recent analytical advances in arsenic speciation analysis. It would thus be much
appreciated if Member States with access to such analytical methods
could collect more detailed information. Such information will be
summarised in a separate report and will not be used for the EFSA
opinion on arsenic in food. The closing date for the supplementary data collection on arsenic is 1 July 2009.
The new occurrence data on arsenic should be transmitted to EFSA in
electronic format using the MS Excel® table arsenic.xls. The example
file arsenic_example.xls contains dummy data to help the senders to
comply the standard.
A detailed description of the information requested is presented in the file arsenic.pdf.
Member State data submissions should be sent to this e-mail address:
contaminants@efsa.europa.eu
Contact person in EFSA:
Stefano Cappè (stefano.cappe@efsa.europa.eu)
Data Collection and Exposure
European Food Safety Authority
Largo N. Palli 5/A, I-43100 Parma, Italy
Tel: +39 0521 036 257 Fax: +39 0521 036 0 257
Related documents
SCOOP Report of task 3.2.11: "Assessment of the dietary
exposure to arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury of the population of the
EU Member States", March 2004Source: EFSA
Related EVISA Resources
Link Database: Arsenic species and human health/nutrition/metabolism
Link Database: Toxicity of arsenic species
Related EVISA News September 5, 2008: Exposure to inorganic arsenic may increase diabetes risk August 8, 2008: Arsenolipids in Fish Oil July 18, 2008: Experts detail how rice absorbs arsenic from the soil February 15, 2008: Arsenic speciation in rice: a question of the rice plant species January 31, 2008: New arsenic species detected in carrot samples March 7, 2007: Elevated Arsenic Levels Found In Rice Grown In South Central States of the USA January 17, 2007: Human metabolism of arsenic is altered by fasting January 11, 2007: More evidence linking chicken litter and toxic arsenic September 7, 2006: Toxic inorganic arsenic species found in Japanese seaweed food April 6, 2006: Testing finds: Arsenic added to feedstuff finds its way into chicken meat February 9, 2006: Preservation of arsenic speciation in natural water samples for up to three months January 18, 2006: Hungarians exposed to high arsenic levels in drinking water October 6, 2005: Two new Thio-Arsenosugars found in Scallops August 3, 2005: Surprisingly high concentrations of toxic arsenic species found in U.S. rice July 29, 2005: Arsenic-free water still a pipedream June 27, 2005: Susceptibility to arsenic toxicity influenced by genes June 14, 2005: Arsenic concentration in groundwater may be affected by bacteria February, 8, 2005: The use of arsenic in "poultry industry" August 25, 2004: Toxicity of organoarsenicals revisited last time modified: June 27, 2020
