Dietary exposure of the Italian population to inorganic arsenic: The 2012-2014 Total Diet Study

Dietary exposure of the Italian population to inorganic arsenic has been assessed in the national Total Diet Study (TDS) carried out in 2012-2014. Within the TDS, food samples (>3000) were collected to be representative of the whole diet of the population, prepared as consumed, and pooled into 51 food groups, thus modelling the Italian diet. Inorganic arsenic was determined by HPLC-ICP-MS after chemical extraction and quantified in all samples. Occurrence data were combined with national individual consumption data to estimate mean and high level dietary exposure of the general population and of population subgroups according to age and gender, both at the national level and for each of the four main geographical areas of Italy. The intakes assessed are in the lower range of iAs exposure estimates in other European countries carried out without the support of the TDS approach. However, taking the lower limit of the BMDL₀₁ range established by the EFSA as reference point, the margins of exposure are <2 for the mean intake in infants and toddlers and <1 for the 95th percentile intakes in all younger age groups. Our results indicate the goal to check and further reduce the dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic.