efsa-opinion-chromium-food-drinking-water

Chromium in food and drinking water
reviewed by Thor et al. (2011). Across the articles reviewed, a total of 1382 chromium values were
reported for 856 foods. Means, standard deviations, medians, and range chromium values for the most
commonly consumed foods in the USA, for which two or more analytical values were identified in the
literature (23 publications), are listed in Appendix C.
Another recent review on chromium in food products indicated that the largest quantities in breakfast
food products occur in raw cereal products (non-roasted buckwheat (0.82 mg/kg) or brown rice bread
(0.86 mg/kg)) and herbs such as garlic (0.99 mg/kg dry weight (d.w.)) or mint (1.11 mg/kg d.w.). The
lowest chromium contents were observed in raw and ultra high temperature (UHT)-processed milk
samples (Sykula-Zajac and Pawlak, 2012).
The content of total Cr determined in 72 samples of 17 different spices and aromatic herbs of the
Spanish diet ranged from not detectable to 1.42 mg/kg d.w., the highest Cr concentrations were in
dried garlic samples and Cr presence was detected in 95 % of samples (Garcia et al., 2000). In some
basic foods of the Spanish diet, total Cr ranged from not detected (nd) to 0.040 mg/kg in olive oils,
from 0.004 to 0.079 mg/kg in seafood, from 0.007 to 0.456 mg/kg in cereals and vegetables
(maximum in sweet corn), and from nd to 0.065 mg/kg in dairy products, except in curd and custard
(range 0.500-0.625 mg/kg) (Lendinez et al., 2001). The total Cr content in 36 different types of three
commercial brands of breakfast cereals, accounting for 85 % of the Spanish market, ranged from
0.09 to 0.55 mg/kg (mean content of 0.23 mg/kg) (Mateos et al., 2003). Eleven different types of
infant formulae (cow’s milk and soy protein based, number of samples, n = 104) marketed in Spain
were also analysed for total Cr content (Sola-Larranaga and Navarro-Blasco, 2006). The results are
expressed as µg/L according to the manufacturer’s dilution instructions. In general, the infant formulae
contain a higher chromium concentration than that found in human milk (reference range: 0.20-
8.18 µg/L), particularly in the case of hypoallergenic (mean 18.16 µg/L), lactose-free (11.37 µg/L),
pre-term (mean 11.48 µg/L) and soya (mean 10.43 µg/L) formulae. The mean of the other types of
infant formulae (adapted, type 1 and 2, functional 1 and 2, follow-up and toddler) ranged from 6.29 to
9.68 µg/L. A comparison with results from various countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain,
UK, Nigeria, USA) found in the literature between 1983 and 2005 indicated a wide variability of
chromium content in infant formula with values reported in some surveys considerably higher (range
1.9-174 µg/L), probably due to the limited number of samples or insufficient control of contamination
in sample handling.
Chromium content of various Greek foods (n = 532) indicated that in average, meat, fish and seafood,
cereals and pulses were higher sources of chromium (> 0.100 mg/kg on average, range 0.02-
0.45 mg/kg) than fruits, milk, oils and fats and sugar (range 0.01 - 0.28 mg/kg) (Brakatos et al., 2002).
Average chromium concentrations in dairy products from sheep milk collected in eight farms in two
regions of Southern Italy ranged from 0.14 (in milk) to 0.47 mg/kg d.w. (in mature cheese) (Anastasio
et al., 2006). In 2010, the analysis of total Cr in the flesh and hepatopancreas of 320 cephalopod
mollusks sampled in the Southern Adriatic Sea indicated that total Cr was uniformly distributed
among the various families (0.38-0.43 mg/kg in the flesh) (Storelli et al., 2010). Another Italian study
indicated that chromium ranges in 54 wild boar samples were 0.069-0.692 mg/kg (mean 0.133 mg/kg)
in meat and < 0.012 (LOD)-0.626 mg/kg (mean 0.146 mg/kg) in liver (Danieli et al., 2012).
In France, of the 1319 food samples analysed for the Second total diet study (TDS), the highest mean
levels were found in the food group ‘fat and oil’ (0.810 mg/kg), followed by ‘sweeteners, honey and
confectionery’ (0.574 mg/kg) and ‘ice cream’ (0.365 mg/kg) (Noël et al., 2012). For the remaining
food groups, concentrations ranged from 0.056 mg/kg (drinks) to 0.299 mg/kg (meats and offal). For
all groups, these concentrations were between 2.4 and 13 times (fat and oil) higher than those of the
First TDS (‘sweeteners, honey and confectionery’ (0.161 mg/kg), ‘cereals and cereal products’
(0.124 mg/kg) and ‘ice cream’ (0.107 mg/kg), the other groups contained less than 0.100 mg/kg on
average) (Leblanc et al., 2005), which could be related to the use of stainless steel, aluminium or cast
iron kitchen equipment (not used in the First TDS) and the sample grinding equipment. In a specific
study of fish and other seafood from the French market (n = 159), chromium was found at an average
level of 0.220 mg/kg in fish and 0.228 mg/kg in seafood (Guérin et al., 2011). Amongst fish, eel and
anchovy had the highest levels of Cr (0.573 and 0.450 mg/kg, respectively) and amongst seafood,
EFSA Journal 2014;12(3):3595 32