Oral daily intake of cadmium, lead, manganese, copper, chromium, mercury, calcium, zinc and arsenic in Belgium: a duplicate meal study.

One hundred and twenty four daily meals collected in three areas of Belgium were analysed for their content of several metals. The following median values for 24-hr intakes were found: cadmium, 15 micrograms; lead, 95.7 micrograms; manganese, 2.6 mg; copper, 1.3 mg; chromium, 0.24 mg; mercury, 6.5 micrograms; calcium, 541 mg; zinc, 13.2 mg; arsenic, 11.5 micrograms. The distributions of the individual results suggest that about 1-2% of the daily meals sampled had mercury and cadmium contents that exceeded the tolerable level proposed by WHO; in the case of lead this level was exceeded in 10%.