Dietary exposure of the Belgian adult population to 70 food additives with numerical ADI

The safety of the use of food additives is evaluated through the intake assessment of the additives for theconsumer. A stepwise approach (using EFSA's Food Additives intake model (FAIM), followed by Tier 2 andrefined Tier 2) was used to assess the exposure of the Belgian adult population to food additives. Additivesfor which the daily intake exceeded the acceptable daily intake (ADI) were subjected to the nextevaluation step. In total 70 additives with numerical ADI were identified on labels of food products forsale in the 5 most frequented supermarkets in Belgium. According to the refined Tier 2 assessment, theADI could be exceeded for the stearoyl-2-lactylates and polysorbates. It was further concluded that theexposure to phosphates, sorbitan monolaurate, sorbitan monooleate, as well as to those additives withnumerical ADI which are permitted as quantum satis, are to be studied further by using real use levels(Tier 3).