Tiered intake assessment for food colours

A tiered intake assessment approach, ranging from the conservative default and refined budget method to refined dietary exposure assessments using national food consumption surveys is presented and applied to derive maximum potential global colour intake estimates. The US and UK markets served as representative for the world and the EU, respectively, to determine the maximum potential exposure ceilings for eleven colours in various sub-populations, including brand-loyal consumers. Industry-reported global use levels were assigned as the maximum level. Conservative intake assessments for food colours used in non-alcoholic beverages were estimated for the general population 2 + y, toddlers, children 3–9 y, adolescents 10–17 y, adults 18–64 y, elderly 65–74 y, very elderly 75 + y based on assumed uses in high intake markets. Refined dietary exposures were estimated using either the 2-day food consumption data from the 2013–2016 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey or the 4-day food consumption data from the 2008–2016 U.K. National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme. In the most refined market-share adjusted assessment, brand-specific market volume data were used to place appropriate weight on corresponding beverage type uses. Strong concordance between the refined budget method and the brand-loyal deterministic approach was shown, in which the latter assumes that the maximum use level of the colour is present in 100% of non-alcoholic beverages. This study shows that safety of colours – both synthetic and natural – in beverages at proposed use levels can be supported for any geography, with all intake estimates falling below the acceptable daily intake in refined assessments. Importantly, this study demonstrates that the refined budget method is a valid first-tier screening assessment to prioritise food colours that may benefit from more refined intake assessments when warranted.

本研究提出并应用了一种分级摄入量评估方法，该方法涵盖从保守默认模式与精细化预算法，到基于全国食物消费调查的精细化膳食暴露评估，旨在推算全球食品着色剂摄入量的最大潜在估算值。本研究分别以美国市场作为全球代表性市场、英国市场作为欧盟代表性市场，针对包括品牌忠实消费者在内的多个人群亚组，确定了11种着色剂的最大潜在暴露限值。研究采用行业上报的全球使用量作为着色剂的最大使用水平。针对非酒精饮料中使用的食品着色剂，本研究基于高摄入市场的假设使用场景，对2岁及以上普通人群、幼儿、3~9岁儿童、10~17岁青少年、18~64岁成年人、65~74岁老年人以及75岁及以上高龄老年人开展了保守摄入量评估。精细化膳食暴露评估则分别采用2013~2016年美国全国健康与营养调查的2天食物消费数据，以及2008~2016年英国全国饮食与营养调查滚动项目的4天食物消费数据进行估算。在最精细化的市场份额调整评估中，本研究采用品牌特定的市场销量数据，为对应饮料品类的使用场景赋予合理权重。研究结果显示，精细化预算法与品牌忠实消费者确定性评估法之间具有高度一致性；后者假设所有非酒精饮料均采用着色剂的最大使用水平。本研究表明，无论在何种地区，饮料中合成与天然着色剂的建议使用水平均具备安全性，所有精细化评估下的摄入量估算值均低于每日允许摄入量（acceptable daily intake, ADI）。尤为重要的是，本研究证实精细化预算法是一种有效的一级筛选评估工具，可用于对需要开展进一步精细化摄入量评估的食品着色剂进行优先级排序。