Dietary intake methods for estimating food additive intake

Given the wide array of demands on food intake databases for estimating food chemical intake, there is no possibility of an all-embracing methodology. Whereas initial estimates should always begin at a crude level, when more refined estimates are needed methodologies range from indirect (household, national level) to direct (retrospective or prospective, individual level). The indirect methods cannot provide data on consumer-only intakes but percentage households purchasing can be used as a surrogate for percentage individuals consuming. For the direct methods, the greater the duration, the higher the estimate of percentage consumers and the lower the estimate of intakes among consumers only, In considering excursions above the acceptable daily intake (ADI), databases need to be constructed which allow estimates of intake per eating occasion, where intakes at each eating: occasion through the day or days are collapsed into intake per day or week, and the possibility of measuring? excursions above the ADI is lost.