Dietary exposure assessment to perchlorate in the European population

EFSA performed a human exposure assessment for perchlorate taking into account occurrence data in the EFSA database from samples taken after 1 September 2013. A data set of 18,217 analytical results provided by governmental organisations of 16 European countries was available. Some data were also provided by food business operators. Several food groups were represented in the data set. Relatively high mean middle bound occurrence values were found in dried products, like ‘Tea and herbs for infusion’ (324 μg/kg) and ‘Herbs, spices and condiments’ (63 μg/kg), and in some fresh vegetables, like ‘Radishes’ (117 μg/kg), ‘Rocket salad, rucola’ (75 μg/kg) and ‘Spinach (fresh)’ (132 μg/kg). The mean and P95 of exposure to perchlorate across dietary surveys were estimated using chronic and short‐term scenarios across different population groups. In the chronic scenario, infants, toddlers and other children showed exposure in the range (minimum lower bound ( LB )–maximum upper bound ( UB )) 0.04–0.61 μg/kg body weight (bw) per day, while in the older population groups, the range was 0.04–0.19 μg/kg bw per day; similarly, in the young population groups, the P95 of chronic exposure range was 0.09–1.0 μg/kg bw per day, while in the older population groups, it was 0.07–0.34 μg/kg bw per day. ‘Vegetable and vegetable products’, ‘Milk and dairy products’ and ‘Fruit and fruit products’ were found to be important contributors to the exposure across all population groups. Other food groups were relevant for specific population groups. The mean short‐term exposure of infants, toddlers and other children was in the range of 0.40–2.3 μg/kg bw per day, while in the older population groups, the range was 0.26–1.3 μg/kg bw per day; similarly, in the young population groups, the P95 short‐term exposure range was 0.94–6.5 μg/kg bw per day, while in the older population groups, the range was 0.67–3.6 μg/kg bw per day.