The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently published a report on food safety in the context of limited food availability, specifically addressing exposure to toxic fatty acid esters from food supplements provided by humanitarian organizations to treat malnutrition.
Lipid-based nutritional supplements (LNS) and ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) are fortified foods designed to prevent and treat child malnutrition. Although they are often supplied by humanitarian organizations in food-insecure regions, LNS and RUTF are often produced locally. Before consumption or use in products such as LNS and RUTF, all edible oils must be refined to remove undesirable substances and produce a palatable, storable product—a process that can lead to the formation of heat-related contaminants such as 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) fatty acid esters and glycidol fatty acid esters (GEs). High concentrations of these chemicals are typically seen in refined palm oil, which is often used to produce LNS/RUTF products.
In 2018, the EU set maximum limits for GEs, expressed as glycidol, in infant formula and foods for special medical purposes intended for infants and young children, as well as in vegetable oils and fats intended for consumer use or as an ingredient in foods. These rules were extended in 2020 to include free 3-MCPD and its fatty acid esters in the same products, and in 2024 the limits for 3-MCPD were reduced. Currently, there is only Codex Alimentarius The Codex standard for 3-MCPD concerns liquid seasonings containing acid-hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, while no Codex standards are available for GEs.
According to a recent risk assessment of 3-MCPD and fatty acid esters in food supplements and therapeutic foods, the lifetime average daily intake (LADD) would not exceed the EU provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) of 2.4 micrograms per kilogram (μg/kg) body weight, provided that the total concentration of 3-MCPD equivalents in LNS/RUTF does not exceed 382 μg/kg. The estimated increase in lifetime incremental cancer risk (ILCR) attributable to GE exposure from LNS/RUTF would not exceed one case in 100,000 if the GE concentration in the products does not exceed 164 μg/kg.
The risk assessment was based on 12 months of exposure to RUTF as the sole dietary source, which is considered an extreme scenario. Any exposure duration to LNS/RUTF less than 12 months would increase the tolerated concentrations for both 3-MCPD and GEs.
Although the FAO’s risk assessment of 3-MCPD and GEs in LNS/RUTF estimates a level of contamination that poses little concern for public health, the FAO urges LNS/RUTF producers overall to pursue process improvements to limit exposure to these contaminants as much as possible.
