Exposure assessment within a Total Diet Study: A comparison of the use of the pan-European classification system FoodEx-1 with national food classification systems

- We compared the use of national classification systems and the FoodEx-1 system in exposure assessment.
- The comparison was done for an organic compound and an inorganic compound.
- We found that the exposure estimates may differ when using a different classification system albeit differences are minimal.
- FoodEx-1 proves to be a good pan-European classification system in order to compare exposure estimates.

A Total Diet Study (TDS) consists of selecting, collecting and preparing commonly consumed foods purchased at retail level and analysing them for harmful and/or beneficial chemical substances. A food classification system is needed to link food consumption data with the contaminant concentration data obtained in the TDS for the exposure assessment. In this study a comparison was made between the use of a national food classification systems and the use of FoodEx-1, developed and recommended by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The work was performed using data of six European countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, France, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK. For each population, exposure to contaminant A (organic compounds) and/or contaminant B (inorganic compound) was assessed by the Monte Carlo Risk Assessment (MCRA) software using the national classification system and FoodEx-1 for food consumption data and for TDS laboratory results. Minimal differences between both approaches were observed. This observation applied for both contaminant A and contaminant B. In general risk assessment will be similar for both approaches; however, this is not guaranteed. FoodEx-1 proved to be a valuable hierarchic classification system in order to harmonise exposure assessment based on existing TDS results throughout Europe.