Assessment of dietary intake of cadmium, lead and mercury via foods of the plant and animal origin in Slovenia.

Due to lack of data the Slovene Ministry of Health--Department of Health Inspection initiated a study of dietary intake of contaminants at the national level. The Institute of Public Health Celje conducted two phases of the study: The assessment of dietary intake of cadmium, lead and mercury in foods of the plant (1st phase) and animal origin (2nd phase). 1583 samples from 17 groups of plant and 11 groups of animal origin foods were taken in total. Sampling was implemented in nine Slovene regions, and thus at least 6 randomly composed samples of foods from the particular group were taken in each region. For assessment of dietary intake of different food items national food consumption data were applied. The estimated weekly intake of cadmium with foods of plant and animal origin that represent 84.6% of total food intake is 91.7 ig (18.8% of PTWI for cadmium. The weekly lead intake with foods of plant and animal origin is 422.3 g (24.2% PTWI for lead). The mercury content in foods disposable in Slovenia is low, therefore, the quantity of mercury consumed with analysed foods is 12.3% of PTWI for mercury.