Food survey shows drop in PAHs

Thursday 5 December 2002

Levels of a group of harmful chemicals have fallen in food during the past 20 years, according to a Food Standards Agency study of people's diets. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widespread in the environment as a result of combustion processes, such as burning fossil fuels and refuse.

They can also be created directly in smoked food. Their levels are monitored because some can cause cancer.

By measuring the PAH levels in a range of different foods and combining this with information held on people's diets collected in 2000, the amount of PAHs that people eat can be estimated.

In 2000, intakes for both adults and children were two to five times lower than they were in 1979 for two of the three most harmful PAHs.

The other most harmful PAH was at such a low level that it couldn't be detected in 2000.

The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT), which advises the Foods Standards Agency on the toxicity of chemicals, concluded that people are consuming less of these chemicals than two decades ago.

As a result, their risk of developing cancer because they have consumed these PAHs has also reduced.