Rare earth elements (REEs) are widely found in foods. A high intake of REEs may have associations with adverse effects on human health. This study aimed to investigate the concentrations of REEs in foods in China and to assess the risk of dietary REEs exposure in the Chinese population. The mean concentrations of the total REEs in 27,457 food samples from 11 food categories ranged from 0.04 to 1.41 mg/kg. The daily mean dietary exposure of the total REEs was 1.62 μg/kg BW in the general Chinese population and ranged from 1.61 to 2.80 μg/kg BW in different sex-age groups. The high consumer exposure (95th percentile, P95) was 4.83 μg/kg BW, 9.38% of the temporary ADI (tADI) of REEs (51.5 μg/kg BW). None of the P95 exposure exceeded the tADI in all of the sub-groups. Lanthanum, cerium, and yttrium accounted for approximately 63% of the total exposure of the 16 REEs. The hazard index of 16 REEs was far below 1. Therefore, the health risk of dietary REEs exposure in the general Chinese population was low. No cumulative risk was found for the 16 REEs in China. The results indicate there was no need to stipulate the limits of REEs in foods.
Keywords: Chinese population; cerium; cumulative risk assessment; dietary exposure; exposure assessment; lanthanum; rare earth elements; yttrium.