Children Exposure assessment to patulin through the intake of apple based products

Pereira, Catarina; Alvito, Paula; Seljak, Barbara; Vasco, Elsa

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/2284

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Euroanalysis 2013 Abstracts Micotoxinas.pdf		1.22 MB	Adobe PDF	Download

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Abstract(s)

Nowadays, food safety is of major concern since more chemicals are present in our environment. Food is an important route of exposure to contaminants as mycotoxins. Patulin (PAT) is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by a wide range of fungal species growing on fruit, including apples, pears, grapes and others. Children are a vulnerable part of the population due to, in part, their physiology, a fairly restricted diet and a higher intake relative to their body. Within the safety evaluation procedure of any chemical substance, one crucial step is the dietary exposure assessment. Exposure assessment combines data on concentrations of a chemical substance present in food with the quantity of those foods consumed. Food consumption data are an essential element for risk assessment and EFSA recommended the application of weighed food diaries as main dietary assessment method for 0-36 months children. An online software to entry consumption data are a very useful tool for exposure assessment. The Open Platform for Clinical Nutrition (OPEN) is a Web-based application that provides clinical dietitians and the general population with an online dietary assessment and diet planning tool. It can be used with any food composition dataset that complies with the EuroFIR standards for data harmonisation. In Portugal no data are available on child consumption between 0-36 months and data on mycotoxins occurrence in baby foods are scarce. The main objectives of this study were to: i) determine the contents of patulin in apple based foods, ii) develop tools and procedures for the collection of individual food consumption data for infants, iii) test the above mentioned tools and procedures within a pilot dietary survey and iv) analyse the collected data and evaluate the tools and procedures used, providing recommendations for potential improvements and/or revisions.