Table 4.
Mean and 95th percentile concentration (μg/kg) of ergot alkaloids in different food samples as used to estimate chronic dietary exposure (food groups with all analytical data reported as left‐censored are not included)
| Mean concentration (μg/kg) | 95th percentile concentration (μg/kg)b , c | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FoodEx level 1 | FoodEx level 2 | Food groupa | N | %LCf | LB | MB | UB | LB | MB | UB |
| Grains and grain‐based products | Grains and grain‐based products | Grains and grain‐based products unspecified | 9 | 33 | 245.5 | 277.2 | 308.9 | – | – | – |
| Grains for human consumption | Wheat grain | 248 | 81 | 20.0 | 76.4 | 132.8 | 90.3 | 134.0 | 240.0 | |
| Barley grain | 48 | 79 | 38.1 | 46.9 | 55.8 | – | – | – | ||
| Rye grain | 321 | 47 | 148.7 | 175.9 | 203.1 | 538.4 | 552.4 | 579.4 | ||
| Spelt grain | 20 | 85 | 28.0 | 104.2 | 180.5 | – | – | – | ||
| Oats, grain | 29 | 55 | 32.7 | 51.7 | 70.8 | – | – | – | ||
| Grain milling products | Grain milling products unspecified | 18 | 94 | 12.2 | 87.2 | 162.1 | – | – | – | |
| Wheat milling products | 293 | 62 | 12.0 | 49.6 | 87.2 | 56.9 | 120.0 | 240.0 | ||
| Rye milling products | 394 | 25 | 198.0 | 218.7 | 239.4 | 818.0 | 844.0 | 844.0 | ||
| Corn milling products | 132 | 99 | 0.3 | 114.1 | 227.9 | 0.0 | 120.0 | 240.0 | ||
| Oat milling products | 14 | 93 | 1.9 | 37.3 | 72.7 | – | – | – | ||
| Spelt milling products | 26 | 77 | 34.0 | 91.4 | 148.8 | – | – | – | ||
| Other milling products | 35 | 97 | 3.3 | 84.9 | 166.5 | – | – | – | ||
| Bread and rolls | Bread and rolls unspecifiedd | 583 | 42 | 24.2 | 46.1 | 67.9 | 104.3 | 126.0 | 161.8 | |
| Wheat bread and rolls | 19 | 68 | 5.9 | 17.6 | 29.3 | – | – | – | ||
| Rye bread and rolls | 181 | 43 | 29.2 | 48.0 | 66.8 | 134.3 | 154.5 | 185.1 | ||
| Mixed wheat and rye bread and rolls | 201 | 35 | 32.8 | 57.4 | 82.0 | 134.2 | 143.1 | 171.0 | ||
| Multigrain bread and rolls | 51 | 33 | 10.5 | 18.2 | 25.9 | – | – | – | ||
| Unleavened bread, crisp bread and rusk | 6 | 50 | 15.7 | 41.9 | 68.1 | – | – | – | ||
| Crisp bread, rye wholemeal | 32 | 53 | 10.2 | 30.3 | 50.4 | – | – | – | ||
| Crisp bread, rye, light | 62 | 45 | 12.9 | 47.8 | 82.7 | 36.7 | 101.2 | 159.7 | ||
| Other bread | 22 | 50 | 14.0 | 40.8 | 67.6 | – | – | – | ||
| Bread products | 1 | 0 | 34.5 | 73.5 | 112.4 | – | – | – | ||
| Breakfast cereals | Cereal flakes unspecifiedd | 88 | 86 | 8.3 | 46.9 | 85.6 | 43.0 | 120.0 | 151.6 | |
| Mixed cereal flakes | 3 | 0 | 19.2 | 19.5 | 19.8 | – | – | – | ||
| Oat flakes e | 52 | 92 | 2.9 | 51.5 | 100.1 | – | – | – | ||
| Rye flakes e | 15 | 73 | 34.6 | 59.0 | 83.4 | – | – | – | ||
| Wheat flakes e | 8 | 88 | 1.1 | 34.6 | 68.1 | – | – | – | ||
| Fine bakery wares | Biscuits (cookies) | 39 | 67 | 2.9 | 9.8 | 16.7 | – | – | – | |
| Food for infants and small children | Cereal‐based food for infants and young children | Cereal‐based food for infants and young children unspecified | 13 | 92 | 0.7 | 20.2 | 39.8 | – | – | – |
| Simple cereals which are or have to be reconstituted with milk or other appropriate nutritious liquids | 49 | 65 | 6.7 | 8.4 | 10.2 | – | – | – | ||
| Cereals with an added high protein food which are or have to be reconstituted with water or other protein‐free liquid | 10 | 80 | 0.3 | 3.2 | 6.1 | – | – | – | ||
| Biscuits, rusks and cookies for children | 22 | 50 | 11.2 | 11.6 | 12.1 | – | – | – | ||
N: number of samples; %LC: percentage of left‐censored samples; LB: lower bound; MB: middle bound; UB: upper bound.
The different food commodities were grouped at different levels before estimating dietary exposure: FoodEx level 2 (underlined), FoodEx level 3 (normal), FoodEx level 4 (italics).
Estimation of 95th percentile is not reliable when less than 60 observations are available.
The 95th percentile estimates equals zero because less than 5% of the samples were quantified.
Two food categories, ‘Bread and rolls unspecified’ at FoodEx level 2 and ‘Cereal flakes’ at FoodEx level 3 were created using all the samples available within each food group to account for unspecified consumption of these commodities.
The food groups ‘Wheat flakes’, ‘Oat flakes’, ‘Rye flakes’ were created considering all types of flakes reported within each cereal (e.g. ‘Oat flakes’ is made up of samples reported as ‘Oat flakes’ (n = 46), Oat flakes with fruits’ (n = 2), Oat flakes instant’ (n = 2), Oat flakes, whole meal’ (n = 2)).
A sample was considered as left‐censored when not a single EA was quantified.