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Complaint Investigation Summary Report #. 5105 <br />COMPLAINT ID: C00055108 Site Location: 12617 N MUNDY LN <br />Activity Summary <br />Activity Date Recorded by <br />separately sourced bags of cheese flavored Brad's kale chips were: 1980 and <br />2150 ug/kg (1.98 and 2.15 mg/kg), measured by ICPMS. The suggested serving <br />size is 28 grams, and the daily dose at that rate would be 55-60 ug/day. For a 60 <br />kg adult, 60 ug/day would equate to: 1 ug/kg/day, and for a 20 kg child: 3 <br />ug/kg/day. <br />Report is attached. <br />Some Exposure Context: <br />Thallium is not included in most food contaminant surveys conducted in the US or <br />internationally. Estimates of daily thallium intakes from food supply are old and <br />based on very limited data. There is one value of 5 ug/day frequently cited <br />emanating from a UK study in the 1980's. <br />A reasonably recent (2020) publication by the European Food Safety Agency <br />(EFSA) reported thallium levels in vegetables: <br />https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2020.e181101 <br />Italy (Fllippini et al., 2019): <br />Food type <br />Cereals <br />Thallium (mg/kg) <br />0.055 <br />All vegetables 0.256 <br />Legumes 0.001 <br />Potatoes 0.046 <br />Fresh Fruits 0.001 <br />Dry fruits/nuts 0.648 <br />China (Xiao et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2013) <br />grown in wastewater-treated soils and soils <br />Food type <br />Xiao et al., 2014 <br />— these studies include vegetables <br />known to be high in thallium <br />Thallium (mg/kg) <br />Green cabbage 338 <br />Carrot 22.1 <br />Shelled rice 2.4 <br />Wang et al., 2013 <br />Sweet potato 176.7 <br />Green cabbage 110 <br />Soybeans 51.2 <br />Eggplant 56.3 <br />Lettuce 22.2 <br />The thallium levels found in the kale chips are high (roughly 8x) compared to <br />"normal" vegetable survey findings from Italy, but far below those reported in <br />China from contaminated soils. This suggests that the soil thallium content is <br />critical for vegetable thallium concentrations. Brassicas and sweet potatoes were <br />the highest in these studies. <br />EPA Reference Dose toxicology considerations: <br />The US EPA (2009) have attempted to derive non-cancer reference doses for <br />thallium and thallium salts. <br />https://cfpub.epa.govinceatiris_drafts/recordisplay.cfm?deid=188550 <br />Study: MRI 1988. <br />5105.rpt Page 4 of 5