UPBEAT AUSTRALIAN STUDY FINDS ONLY LOW LEVELS OF POLLUTANTS IN FOOD AND DRINK
A major study has found that consumers in Australia are likely to be exposed to only low levels of a key pollutants in food and drink.
Officials have said the results of the 26th Australian Total Diet Study, which involved the analysis of hundreds of food and drink samples, found “no food safety concerns”.
In particular, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including dioxins and related substances, did not exceed safe limits, according to reports.
Mark Booth, CEO of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), which carried out the study, said the research showed that consumers could “continue to be confident that food sold in Australia is safe to eat”.
He told the media that the study involved the analysis for pollutants in 33 foods commonly eaten in Australia, with 600 samples from across the country collected.
“Our results show that while the selected chemicals are present in the environment, the levels are low and there are no food safety concerns for Australian consumers,” he said.
He said levels were generally the similar to or lower than those found in previous analysis in Australia and overseas.
Foods including vegetables, bread, meat, fish, eggs, cheese, tap water and takeaway foods were analysed for pollutants.
While dioxins were found in most samples, levels were said to be very low. They were highest in salmon fillets, but this was because of their high oil content and levels did not exceed recommended limits.
FSANZ describes the Australia Total Diet Study as “Australia’s most comprehensive monitoring survey of chemicals, nutrients and other substances”.
First carried out in 1970 and previously called the Australian Market Basket Survey, the study has been managed since 2001 by the FSANZ, which took over from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
In other food contamination news, Sial Paris Newsroom recently reported that most food samples imported into Norway from outside the European Economic Area were free of contamination.
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