Assessing dietary risks caused by food additives: A case study of total diet in Vietnam

A risk assessment study of 6 types of food additives (including benzoates, sorbates, cyclamate, saccharin, tartrazine, and sunset yellow) in Vietnamese diets was conducted based on the food consumption research and food additives concentration followed by the guideline of World Health Organization. Surveys on food consumption and food sampling were conducted in 6 provinces including Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh, Thua Thien Hue, Nam Dinh, Tay Ninh and Quang Tri. The survey results have determined the amount of food consumed for each different food product groups on different age groups. Test results of 6 food additives including benzoates, sorbates, saccharins, cyclamates, tartrazine and sunset yellow FCF using HPLC method show that benzoates and sorbates are the two most discovered groups of substances in the tested samples. The highest concentrations of these compounds were on jelly, soft drinks, ground meat, chilli sauce … Types of food additives used as sweeteners are common in dried fruits, jam; the cyclamate content was very high in these two product groups. The colouring agents content were at a much lower level, mainly found in chili sauce. Risk assessment results show that total intake of sorbate and benzoate in the group of children under 5 years old were the highest value, which was 38 % of ADI. For all other age groups, the risk ranged from 10.6 to 34.0 % ADI for benzoates and from 0.56 to 1.8 % ADI for sorbates. For the remaining 4 food additives, total consumption was much lower than their ADIs. With the assumption that people used all types of food, 0.8 % of the population had the intake of benzoate exceed its ADI.