Additional analytical methods for NDNS biomonitoring

Developing our understanding of UK consumers exposure to food additives, and other chemical contaminants, is broad and complex; an important starting point is to increase the evidence base through the investigation of novel approaches to assessing consumer exposure. The actual use levels of additives in foods may be below the maximum permitted levels and, therefore, accurate consumer exposures to additives in foods are not easy to estimate.

Additionally, consumers may be exposed to additives or other chemical contaminants through different sources, and other factors such as dietary preferences, brand loyalty and variable occurrence levels of contaminants, can often make the estimation of actual consumer exposure challenging. This research project aims to develop analytical methods to support potential future projects aimed at better understanding actual UK consumer exposure to food additives and other chemical contaminants through biomonitoring.

The aim is to develop a package of analytical methods designed for the measurement of biomarkers, and approaches to estimate dietary intakes, from the measurements, of exposure for chemicals of strategic interest to the FSA. The FSA is seeking to commission a research partner with the capability and capacity to research and define biomonitoring approaches, derive and validate suitable analytical chemistry methods and determine toxicological approaches for the estimation of intakes of chemicals.

The FSA will require the research partner to identify suitable urinary biomarkers for the substances (of groups of substances) of interest to the FSA, and to develop and validate analytical methods that can reliably and quantitatively measure them in human urine. The FSA will further require, for each chemical of interest, an approach for estimating the systemic exposure and theoretical dietary intake of the relevant substances, from the urinary excretion of the corresponding biomarkers.