Occurrence of Ochratoxin A in breakfast cereals and sweet snacks in Italy: dietary exposure assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Ochratoxin A, a toxic fungal secondary metabolite, is well known as a nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, embryotoxic, teratogenic and immunotoxic agent, classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as "possibly carcinogenic to humans". OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the occurrence of ochratoxin A in breakfast cereals and sweet snacks in order to estimate the dietary exposure of the Italian population, considering the widespread use of these products for all ages, and in particular for children and teenagers. METHODS: Ochratoxin A was detected by ELISA technique. The calculation of the estimated exposure was performed by a deterministic approach. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The percentages of contaminated samples tested were 8% for breakfast cereals and 51% for sweet snacks with a range of contamination from 0.5 to 2.1 ng/g. The mean estimated daily intake, depending on age categories, ranged from 2.9% to 8.6% of the latest provisional tolerable daily intake recommended by the European Food Safety Authority (17 ng/kg bw/d) calculated on the total diet. Children and teenagers result to be higher in exposure per kg body weight compared to adults. CONCLUSION: The estimate of ochratoxin A exposure levels calculated in the study does not represent a great concern for public health because they are not associated with a significant cancer risk.

Occurrence of Acrylamide in breakfast cereals and biscuits available in Italy.

INTRODUCTION: Acrylamide, produced during thermal processing of carbohydrate-rich foods, is classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine acrylamide levels in biscuits and breakfast cereals considering the widespread use of these products for all ages. METHOD: Acrylamide determination was carried out in 56 samples by HPLC-UV technique. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results showed a considerable variability in the contents of acrylamide in the samples analysed, most likely due to differences in industrial processing and ingredients. The percentages of contaminated samples tested were very high (95.5% of the biscuits and 75% of the breakfast cereals) with a wide range of contamination: from 30 µg/kg to 940 µg/kg. Our results showed that 22.7% of biscuits and 33% of breakfast cereals exceeded the indicative values recommended by EC 2013/647 set at 500 µg/kg and 200-400 µg/kg (according to the composition) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest concern about the risk for human health.