Determination of dietary tin intake in an adult French citizen.

The tin contents in fresh food or in food stored in lacquered or unlacquered cans were determined in order to estimate the daily tin intake in a French citizen. Tin levels were 76.6 +/- 36.5 mg/kg in foods preserved in unlacquered cans, 3.2 +/- 2.3 mg/kg in foods stored in lacquered cans, and 0.03 +/- 0.03 mg/kg in fresh foods. Tin intake is essentially dependent on food stored in tin cans (98%), which only represents 5.6% of the total daily consumption of foods by a French citizen. The estimated tin intake (2.7 mg/day whether 0. 04 mg/kg of body weight) remains widely inferior to the daily tolerable dose in humans (2 mg/kg of body weight).