CADMIUM

Comments:

The PTMI was not reviewed at the current meeting. At the request of the thirteenth session of CCCF for more comprehensive occurrence data for cadmium in food, the JECFA Secretariat issued a call for data on cadmium in chocolates and cocoa-derived products in 2019. The submitted data included a wider geographical range of occurrence data for cadmium in cocoa products than considered at the seventy-seventh meeting of the Committee. The occurrence data also showed a higher mean concentration for cadmium in cocoa products than previously noted by the Committee. As a result, the JECFA Secretariat considered it appropriate to revise the dietary exposure assessment of cadmium to include not only chocolate and cocoa products but the contribution from all food sources.

Intake:

JECFA 73rd established a PTMI of 25 μg /kg bw, reflecting the long half life of cadmium in humans. The mean dietary exposure to cadmium from the whole diet ranged from 0.6 μg /kg bw per month (2.4% of the PTMI) for adults in the Sikasso region of Mali up to 24 μg /kg bw per month (96% of the PTMI) in children aged 4-11 years in China. These children from China also had the highest high percentile estimate of dietary cadmium of 48.2 μg /kg bw per month (190% of the PTMI). High percentile estimates of adult dietary cadmium exposure were only occasionally above the PTMI and were typically 20-60% of the PTMI. Current JECFA PTMI for cadmium is based on long term bioaccumulation in the kidney, with steady state not achieved until after 45-60 years of exposure. Dietary exposure above the PTMI for limited periods may be of lesser concern in younger age groups. However, there may be a health concern in areas where the cadmium exposure during adulthood exceeds the PTMI. Consistent with the previous JECFA evaluations, the present assessment identified the main sources of dietary cadmium exposure in these national studies as cereals and cereal based products, vegetables, and fish and seafood. The contribution of cocoa products to dietary cadmium exposure was minor (0.1-9.4% for national studies and estimates based on GEMS/Food cluster diets), even in countries in which the consumption of cocoa products is relatively high.

Meeting:

91

Report: 

Tox Monograph: 

Comments:

The Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods, at its Sixth Session, requested that the Committee conduct an assessment of dietary exposure to cadmium from cocoa and cocoa products. The potential dietary exposures to cadmium for high consumers of products containing cocoa and its derivatives in addition to cadmium derived from other foods were estimated to be 30–69% of the PTMI for adults and 96% of the PTMI for children 0.5–12 years of age. The Committee noted that this total cadmium dietary exposure for high consumers of cocoa and cocoa products was likely to be overestimated and did not consider it to be of concern.

MRL Comment:

Intake:

Estimated mean population dietary exposure to cadmium from products containing cocoa and its derivatives, from GEMS data: 0.005 to 0.39 μg/kg bw/month (0.02–1.6% of the PTMI); from national data: 0.001 to 0.46 μg/kg bw/ month (0.004–1.8% of the PTMI).

Tolerable Intake:

PTMI: 25 μg/kg bw/month

Meeting:

77

Report: 

Tox Monograph: 

Comments:

The Committee considered new information that had become available since cadmium was last evaluated. Renal dysfunction is the most sensitive toxicological end-point, and most of the new data involved the use of urinary biomarkers to estimate risk. The Committee considered whether these recent modelled risk estimates for cadmium would support the current PTWI of of 7 μg/kg bw. The Committee noted that the existing health-based guidance value for cadmium was expressed on a weekly basis, but, owing to cadmium’s long half-life of 15 years in human kidneys, considered that a monthly value was more appropriate. The PTWI of 7 μg/kg bw was therefore withdrawn. The Committee noted that a large meta-analysis of studies measuring the dose–response relationship between β2MG and cadmium excretion in urine was available. An analysis of the group mean data relating β2MG excretion to cadmium excretion in urine from individuals who were ≥ 50 years of age, when kidney cadmium levels would be at steady-state, showed that the urinary excretion of less than 5.24 (5th–95th percentiles 4.94–5.57) μg cadmium/gram creatinine was not associated with an increased excretion of β2MG. Using a one-compartment toxicokinetic model, the Committee estimated that a lower bound of the 5th population percentile dietary cadmium exposure of 0.8 μg/kg bw/d or 25 μg/kg bw/ month would result in a urinary cadmium concentration of 5.24 μg cadmium/gram creatinine. The PTMI established was 25 μg/kg bw. The estimates of exposure to cadmium through the diet for all age groups, including consumers with high exposure and subgroups with special dietary habits (e.g. vegetarians), examined by the Committee at this meeting are below the PTMI.

Intake:

Adults: 2.2-12 μg/kg bw/month (mean), 6.9-12.1 μg/kg bw/month (high level). Children 0.5–12 years of age: 3.9-20.6 μg/kg bw/ month. Vegetarians: 23.2 μg/kg bw/month.

Tolerable Intake:

PTMI: 25 μg/kg bw/ month

Meeting:

73

Report: 

Tox Monograph: 

Comments:

The PTWI of 0.007 mg/kg bw that was established at the thirty-third meeting (1988) was not re-evaluated and was maintained at the sixty-fourth meeting (2005). The Committee evaluated the impact of different maximum levels on the overall intake of cadmium and concluded that the effect would be very small. At the proposed Codex maximum levels, mean intake of cadmium would be reduced by approximately 1% of the PTWI. The imposition of maximum levels one level lower would result in potential reductions in intake of cadmium of no more than 6% (wheat, potatoes) of the PTWI. At the proposed Codex maximum levels, no more than 9% of a commodity would be violative (oysters). Maximum levels one level below those proposed would result in approximately 25% of molluscs, potatoes, and other vegetables being violative.

Tolerable Intake:

PTWI 0.007 mg/kg bw

Meeting:

64

Report: 

Tox Monograph: 

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