Toxic metal species and food regulations--making a healthy choice.

As a safeguard for human health, guidelines and regulations stipulating maximum permissible concentrations (MPCs) of metals in foods have been set to limit our dietary exposure to toxic metals. It is now well accepted, however, that the chemical form of the metal must be considered when assessing the possible human health consequences of exposure, and this in turn has led to discussion on the incorporation of speciation data in the setting of MPCs for metals in foods. Some practical aspects and implications of framing food legislation in terms of metal species are presented.