IARC MONOGRAPHS ON THE EVALUATION OF CARCINOGENIC ...

oader range of foods than had been previously assumed, but that most samples did not
contain any detectable aflatoxin. Sampling methods were very important in estimating
aflatoxin levels accurately. In addition, different methods of collecting food consumption
data may have made a difference in estimating aflatoxin intakes.
(b) National estimates of aflatoxin intake (from JECFA, 1998)
(i) Australia
From Australian market basket surveys, intake was estimated for average and
extreme consumers. The average diet was estimated to give an intake of 0.15 ng aflatoxin
per kg body weight per day and the upper 95th percentile diet approximately twice that
level. Children’s diets were estimated to give an intake up to approximately 0.45 ng/kg
bw per day for the 95th percentile two-year-old (National Food Authority, 1992, reported
by JECFA, 1998).
(ii) China
A series of intake and market basket studies have been conducted in China since
1980 to estimate the aflatoxin B 1 intakes, which were reported to range from 0 to
91 μg/kg bw per day (Chen, 1997).
(iii) European Union
Nine countries provided estimates of aflatoxin intake to the EU SCOOP project.
None of these estimates was considered to be representative and all were viewed only as
indicators of intake of aflatoxin. These estimates ranged from 2 to 77 ng per person per
day for aflatoxin B 1 and from 0.4 to 6 ng per person per day for aflatoxin M 1. JECFA
noted that these levels should not be used as estimates of intake either for a particular
country or for Europe (JECFA, 1998).
(iv) USA
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimated intakes using data from the
National Compliance Program for maize, peanut and milk products using Monte Carlo
simulation procedures and data from the 1980s. Results differed only slightly from those
of a repeat analysis in 1992 (Henry et al., 1997). The lifetime intake of total aflatoxin
was 18 ng per person per day for consumers only; intake for the 90th percentile individuals
was 40 ng per person per day. For aflatoxin M 1, mean intake was 44 ng per person
per day and for the 90th percentile individual 87 ng per person per day. Many assumptions
were made in these estimates which would tend to bias the results upward.
(v) Zimbabwe
AFLATOXINS 189
The theoretical maximum intake of aflatoxin M 1 for a child’s diet containing 150 g
maize with 5 μg/kg aflatoxin B 1 and 30 g peanuts with 10 μg/kg aflatoxin B 1 was estimated
to be 1.05 μg per day (JECFA, 1998).