Tests on 300 food samples have found that most were free of antimony. The samples testing positive only had trace amounts of the chemical element, well below the legal level set for most foods.

Food Safety Centre Consultant Dr Ho Yuk-yin said the samples included cereals and cereal products, vegetables, fruit, meat, poultry, eggs and their products, seafood, and dairy products. Although rice has a relatively low level of antimony, its high consumption made it the largest contributor to total dietary exposure to the element.

Dr Ho said, apart from food, people can also be exposed to antimony by air and water as the element can be present in the environment.

Daily dietary exposure

To assess the associated health risk, the centre used the food-consumption data from a recent survey conducted on 1,000 local secondary school students.

Daily dietary exposure to antimony was found to be below the tolerable daily intake established by the World Health Organisation. The study also found that antimony exposure through food consumption should not pose any adverse health effects.

Dr Ho appealed to the food trade to observe good agricultural and manufacturing practices to minimise antimony contaminations in food. People are also advised to maintain a balanced diet.