Food Standards Committee report on fluorine : revised recommendations for limits for fluorine content of foods.

  • Great Britain. Food Standards Committee.
Date:
1957
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Food Standards Committee report on fluorine : revised recommendations for limits for fluorine content of foods. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (ii) Any article of food (not included in 300 parts per million parts of the items (iii) and (iv) below) containing calcium acid phosphate, sodium calcium acid phosphate, sodium acid acid pyrophosphate or other aci- pyrophosphate or any other acidic dic phosphate present phosphate and intended for use in the composition or preparation of food (iii) Baking powders, including golden (a) 100 parts per million parts raising powder of the article of food where such article yields less than 15 per cent of available carbon dioxide (b) 133 parts per million parts of the article of food where such article yields not less than 15 per cent of available carbon dioxide (iv) Self-raising flour or any similar mix- 8 parts per million parts of the ture (not included in item (iii) above) article of food containing a farinaceous substance and an acidic phosphate 5. The literature on fluorosis is very extensive and we cannot do more than summarise a few of the investigations which have a bearing on the question of prescribing limits to the fluorine content of foods. 6. It appears that, in general, drinking waters provide the principal source of dietary fluorine and that the majority of foods found in the average diet only contain from 0:2 — 0:3 p.p.m. or less fluorine in the food as consumed. There are, however, one or two notable exceptions. Acid calcium phosphate pro- duced from rock phosphate has been referred to above. Apart from this it has been found that tea may contain up to 100 p.p.m. fluorine in the dry tea, whilst shellfish may contain 5 — 15 p.p.m. fluorine. 7. An enquiry into the urinary excretion of fluorine in some New Zealand subjects showed that tea is a major source of fluorine in New Zealand where the water supplies contain only a small quantity of this element (of the order of 0-05—0-3 p.p.m.); the tea used in this enquiry had a fluorine content of 68 p.p.m. corresponding to an average daily intake of fluorine of about 0-42 mg., an amount well below the level at which toxic fluorosis could occur. 8. Fluorine balances after the addition of supplements of fluorine to the food and drinking water of a few young men were the subject of enquiry in 1945. The results showed that about 4 mg. of fluorine could be absorbed daily by healthy persons without appreciable risk, and that urine and sweat were the chief avenues for the elimination of fluorine. 9. The hazard to man and animals arising from exposure to fluorine compounds emanating from factories manufacturing aluminium near Fort William, Scot- land, was the subject of a report issued in 1949. Some of the older workmen who had inhaled fluorine for a large number of years showed bone changes of the type generally recognised to be produced by fluorosis, but none of the workers suffered clinical disability. Sheep and cattle grazing near the factories suffered from gross deformity of the teeth and jawbone which made mastication difficult or impossible and led to inanition. 10. A paper published in 1948 discussed the occurrence of fluorosis in farm animals arising from industrial contamination of pasture in connection with the manufacture of bricks in Bedfordshire, the calcining of ironstone in Lincoln- shire and the fumes from a colour and enamel factory in Staffordshire. It was