Occurrence of cadmium, lead, mercury, and arsenic in prepared meals in Italy: Potential relevance for intake assessment

Abstract

Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg) were analyzed in different prepared meals. Baby food composite and school canteen lunches collected on a five-days basis were selected as potential surrogates of the diet of 9–12 months toddlers and of 4–9 years children, respectively. Five-days servings from an office canteen, three fast food meals, seven-days lunches from a hotel-school and duplicate 1-day portions including a vegetarian meal were surrogates of the diet of 18–64year adults. Occurrence data of pooled servings were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer including a Dynamic Reaction Cell (ICP-MS-DRC). From such surrogated diets, estimated intakes felt in the range for As (0.28–6.91μgkg−1 body weight (b.w.) day−1), Cd (0.09–0.96μgkg−1 b.w. day−1), Pb (0.14–1.50μgkg−1 b.w. day−1) and Hg (0.03–0.40μgkg−1 b.w. day−1). For Cd, the intake from almost all surrogate diets considered resulted close to the Total Daily Intake (TDI) suggested by EFSA (0.36μgkg−1 b.w. day−1).