Food safety risk assessment for estimating dietary intake of sulfites in the Taiwanese population

Keng-Wen Lien; Dennis P H Hsieh; Hui-Ying Huang; Chiu-Hua Wu; Shih-Pei Ni; Min-Pei Ling

doi:10.1016/j.toxrep.2016.06.003

Food safety risk assessment for estimating dietary intake of sulfites in the Taiwanese population

Toxicol Rep. 2016 Jun 11:3:544-551. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2016.06.003. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Keng-Wen Lien¹, Dennis P H Hsieh², Hui-Ying Huang³, Chiu-Hua Wu⁴, Shih-Pei Ni², Min-Pei Ling⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Health Risk Management, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Nutrition, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁴ Industrial Safety and Health Association, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Food Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the health risk associated with dietary intake of sulfites for Taiwanese general consumers by conducting a total diet study (TDS). We evaluated the exposure of Taiwanese to sulfites in the diet and its associated health risk. This study used a list of 128 food items representing 83% of the total daily diet. Among the 128 food items, 59 items may contain sulfites. Samples of the 59 food items were collected and subjected to chemical analysis to determine the sulfur dioxide concentration. Health risk was assessed by calculating the ratio of exposure level to the acceptable daily intake (ADI) level of the analyte. For high-intake consumers, the HI of sulfites was 19.7% ADI for males over the age of three years at the 95th percentile; whereas for females over the age of 66, the HI was 17.8% ADI. The HI for high-intake consumers was above 10% ADI. This suggests that regulatory actions must be continued and that consumers should be advised to be aware of processed foods with relatively high contamination to avoid excessive exposure.

Keywords: ADD, average daily dose; ADI, acceptable daily intake; BW, body weight; C, concentration; CAC, codex alimentarius commission; COX-2, cyclooxygenase-2; CR, consumption rate; EFSA, European Food Safety Authority; EGF, epidermal growth factor; EGFR, epidermal growth factor receptor; FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization; FSAI, food safety authority of Ireland; FSANZ, Food Standards Australia New Zealand; HI, hazard index; Health risk; IARC, International Agency for Research on Cancer; ISO, International Organization for Standardization; JECFA, Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives; LOD, limit of detection; LOQ, limit of quantitation; NAHSIT, nutrition and health survey in Taiwan; ND, undetected; NOEL, no observed effect level; Risk assessment; SCF, The Scientific Committee for Food; Sulfites; Sulfur dioxide; TDS, total diet study; TFDA, Taiwan Food and Drug Administration; Total diet study; USFDA, US Food and Drug Administration; WHO, World Health Organization.