Evaluation of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in the food chain - Part I: Overview of actual assessments

Until recently comprehensive regulations for the content of dioxins in food and feedingstuffs or proposals for that were missing. For the evaluation o f samples and derivation of tolerances complex correlations had to be consi dered. The first part of the publication summarizes important reassessments to provide background information. Possibilities for the legal evaluation of feedingstuffs will be presented in part 2 and of food in part 3. As first orientation, a comparison of a result of an individual sample with the normal background contamination was used. For feed materials, the Scie ntific Committee on Animal Nutrition has published a comprehensive evaluati on in November 2000. For food, the SCOOP report and the opinion of the Scie ntific Committee on Food have been published in 2000. An important point is the re-evaluation of the tolerable daily intake (TDI) for dioxins by WHO i n 1998 when a WHO consultation group agreed on a TDI in the range of 1-4 pg WHO-TEQ/kg bw/day stressing that the upper range of the TDI should be cons idered as maximum tolerable intake on a provisional basis and that the ulti mate goal is to reduce human intake levels below 1 pg WHO-TEQ/kg bw/day. Th is recommendation includes dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs. The Scientific Com mittee on Food arrived at a temporary tolerable weekly intake (t-TWI) of 7 pg WHO-TEQ/kg bw and thus confirmed the lower end of the range as recommend ed by WHO. This t-TWI is being exceeded by a considerable proportion of the European population. Therefore measures are being supported aiming at the reduction of the daily dioxin intake in the long run. About 95% of the daily dioxin intake comes from food, from this about 90% f rom food of animal origin. For this, feedingstuffs are the decisive paramet er. Taking into account also dioxin-like PCBs, the WHO-TEQ values resulting from inclusion of dioxins and furans, only, will double or triple, roughly . This increases the necessity to reduce the input of dioxins and dioxin-li ke PCBs into the food chain.