Dietary Exposure to POPs
Human exposure to POPs through dietary intake was estimated based on measurements of the level of contamination of POPs in various types of foods and information on daily diets of the local population.
Contamination levels of POPs in locally consumed foods are monitored by the Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department under a routine food surveillance programme. The Government Laboratory analyses the levels of POPs contamination of the collected food samples.
Total daily exposure of local residents (average consumers) to dioxins/furans during the period of 2011-2014 was estimated to be 0.73 pg TEQ/kg bw/day1 (assuming negligible intake via drinking water route). Its monthly intake value was below the Provisional Tolerable Monthly Intake of 70 pg TEQ/kg bw/month2 set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Dietary intake was the major route, accounting for 98.6% of total exposure of local residents to dioxins/furans.
Results of human health risk assessment indicated that there was neither unacceptable inhalation nor dietary chronic/carcinogenic risk of toxicological concern associated with a lifetime exposure of local residents to the current levels of POPs contamination in the local environment and locally consumed food items. Levels of POPs in the local marine biota were found to be well below national/overseas Food Safety Standards/Action Levels of the Mainland China, the US and the European Community.
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1 pg TEQ/kg bw/day = picogram toxicity equivalent per kilogram body weight per day
2 pg TEQ/kg bw/month = picogram toxicity equivalent per kilogram body weight per month
