ABSTRACT
Background: Children are known to have higher dietary exposure levels to pesticide residues than adults due to higher consumption levels per kilogram bodyweight. Also social concern exists on the effects of these residues in young children, who are growing rapidly. To assess whether a certain compound may pose a risk for young children, it is important to have consumption levels of the foods that may contain the compound of interest in this age group. In the Netherlands food consumption data are available of children from 1 year onwards. However, the majority of children (if not all) already consume solid foods before age 1. Aims: Performance of a food consumption survey among Dutch infants aged 8 - 12 months gathering data on food consumption levels, and measuring and estimating the dietary exposure to selected pesticide residues Approach: Food consumption data were collected using a 1-daydietary record method. Weighing scales were provided, so that the amount consumed could be quantified accurately. During the study also duplicate portions of all the foods consumed by the children during the study day were collected. These duplicate portions were analysed for 19pesticides at the RIKILT - Institute of Food Safety to estimate the real intake of pesticides. Results: In total 373 infants (186 girls and 187 boys) were included. The fruit most eaten by this age group was banana (58%), followed by apple (34%), pear (28%) and kiwi (20%). Carrot (18%) was the most favorite vegetable, followed by broccoli (9%) and green beans (8%). Potato was also consumed frequently (49%). Of all the fruits and vegetables consumed by the children large portion sizes (LPs) were calculated at the level of the raw agricultural commodity. These LPs can be used in the point estimate approach to assess the acute dietary intake of toxic pesticide residues in the field of pesticide regulation. The infant food consumption database can also be used for probabilistic modelling of acute dietary exposure. Of 250 infants the duplicate portions were analysed for 19 pesticides. Of these samples a significant percentage (11%) had a low exposure to one or more pesticides. None of the exposures exceeded the toxicological reference level (acceptable daily intake (ADI) or acute reference dose (ARfD)). Conclusion: This study among infants resulted in a first impression of actual intake levels of pesticide residues by this age group in the Netherlands via the diet, an estimate of the LPs of fruits and vegetables consumed by young children for use in the point estimate approach and a database with consumption levels useful for probabilistic exposure assessments. Furthermore the duplicate portions collected can be used for the analysis of other compounds that may affect the development of young growing children (e.g. deoxynivalenol (DON), acrylamide, heavy metals). The complete report can be downloaded for free from http://edepot.wur.nl/44408. Full report is also available as ‘Supplementary File’.