efsa-opinion-chromium-food-drinking-water

Chromium in food and drinking water
day. The 95 th percentile dietary exposure values ranged from 1.1 (minimum LB) to 9.0 (maximum
UB) μg/kg b.w. per day. Among the different age classes, ‘Toddlers’ showed the highest mean chronic
dietary exposure to Cr(III) with minimum LB of 2.3 and maximum UB of 5.9 μg/kg b.w. per day. The
adult populations (‘Adult’, ‘Elderly’ and ‘Very elderly’) showed lower exposure to Cr(III) than the
younger populations. The mean chronic dietary exposure to Cr(III) varied between 0.6 µg/kg b.w. per
day and 1.6 µg/kg b.w. per day (minimum LB and maximum UB, adults in both cases). The 95 th
percentile chronic dietary exposure ranged from 1.1 μg/kg b.w. per day (minimum LB, ‘Elderly’) and
2.6 μg/kg b.w. per day (maximum UB, adults).
In ‘Infants’ and ‘Toddlers’ the main contributors to the chronic exposure to Cr(III) were ‘Foods for
infants and small children’, followed by ‘Milk and dairy products’ and ‘Bread and rolls’. In the other
age classes, the main contributors to the chronic exposure to Cr(III) were the food categories ‘Milk
and dairy products, ‘Bread and rolls’, ‘Chocolate (cocoa) products’ (except for ‘Elderly’ and ‘Very
elderly’ population) and ‘Non-alcoholic beverages’. The food group ‘Vegetables and vegetable
products (including fungi)’ contributed to the exposure to Cr(III) with median values that ranged from
4 % in ‘Adolescents’ and ‘Other children’, to 8 % in the ‘Elderly’ population.
The assessment of the dietary exposure to Cr(III) in vegetarians was based on very limited data. The
results indicated that virtually the same mean and 95 th dietary exposure are likely in the vegetarian
population as compared to the general population.
Overall, the Comprehensive Database contains limited information on the consumption of fortified
foods, foodstuffs for particular nutritional use (PARNUTS) and food supplements. Based on previous
EFSA opinions, the combined exposure from supplemental intake in adults (i.e. from fortified foods,
PARNUTS and food supplements) would be between 910 µg/day for a typical intake and 1540 µg/day
for upper intake (13 µg/kg b.w. per day and 22 µg/kg b.w. per day, respectively, for an adult of
70 kg b.w.).
In the FoodEx classification system, the different types of water are grouped under the generic name
‘Drinking water’. Therefore, the generic term drinking water as used in this opinion includes both
categories defined by the EU legislation, i.e. water intended for human consumption and natural
mineral waters. Bottled water as used in this opinion includes natural mineral water, but also spring
water and other bottled drinking waters, products that must comply with Council Directive 98/83/EC.
More than 90 % of the results for all types of drinking water were left-censored. Concerning the data
on bottled water, 11 % of the samples analysed both for Cr(VI) and total chromium reported no
quantified values for both parameters. After data cleaning and validation, and applying a cut-off value
of 10 μg/L on the LOQs reported for total chromium, a total of 46 234 analytical results on water
(including 88 results on Cr(VI)) were selected for exposure calculations. Tap water samples were the
most reported (61 %) with LB and UB mean occurrence values of 0.2 µg/L and 1.9 µg/L, respectively.
In bottled water, the mean occurrence values ranged between 0.3 µg/L for carbonated mineral water
(LB) and 3.4 µg/L at the UB reported for unspecified bottled water.
The CONTAM Panel assumed that all chromium present in drinking water was Cr(VI) (worst case
scenario) based on two reasons. First, the samples where both Cr(VI) and total chromium were
quantified (71 out of 88 samples) showed an average ratio Cr(VI)/total chromium of 0.97. In addition
the water intended for human consumption is usually treated with different oxidizing agents to make it
potable, and this would promote the presence of Cr(VI) over that of Cr(III).
The CONTAM Panel estimated separately the exposure to Cr(VI) in all types of drinking water and in
bottled water. The mean chronic exposure to Cr(VI) from consumption of all types of drinking water
ranged from 0.7 (minimum LB) to 159.1 ng/kg b.w. per day (maximum UB). The 95 th percentile
exposure ranged from 2.8 (minimum LB) to 320.2 (maximum UB) ng/kg b.w. per day. The highest
exposure to Cr(VI) through the consumption of all types of drinking water was estimated in the
youngest populations (‘Infants’ and ‘Toddlers’). No consumption of bottled water was reported in
several dietary surveys. In those dietary surveys with reported data on consumption of bottled water,
the highest exposure to Cr(VI) was also estimated in the youngest populations (‘Infants’ and
‘Toddlers’), with a mean chronic exposure ranging from < 0.1 (minimum LB) to
EFSA Journal 2014;12(3):3595 3