The potential application of European market research data in dietary exposure modelling of food additives.

Consumer exposure assessments for food additives are incomplete without information about the proportions of foods in each authorised category that contain the additive. Such information has been difficult to obtain but the Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD) provides information about product launches across Europe over the past 20 years. These data can be searched to identify products with specific additives listed on product labels and the numbers compared with total product launches for food and drink categories in the same database to determine the frequency of occurrence. There are uncertainties associated with the data but these can be managed by adopting a cautious and conservative approach. GNPD data can be mapped with authorised food categories and with food descriptions used in the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Surveys Database for exposure modelling. The data, when presented as percent occurrence, could be incorporated into the EFSA ANS Panel's 'brand-loyal/non-brand loyal exposure model in a quantitative way. Case studies of preservative, antioxidant, colour and sweetener additives showed that the impact of including occurrence data is greatest in the non-brand loyal scenario. Recommendations for future research include identifying occurrence data for alcoholic beverages, linking regulatory food codes, FoodEx and GNPD product descriptions, developing the use of occurrence data for carry-over foods and improving understanding of brand loyalty in consumer exposure models.