Consumption data

10.    The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) rolling programme and Diet and Nutrition Survey of Infants and Young Children (DNSIYC) data were used to undertake chronic exposure assessments in this statement, required for assessing the safety of milk from a chemical contaminant perspective, in young children aged 6 months to 5 years (Department of Health, 2011; Bates et al., 2014; Roberts et al., 2018). The data presented in Table 1 include consumption data for cow’s milk consumed as a drink and when used in recipes. Consumption data for children aged 6 – 12 months are derived from milk used in recipes only, as cow’s milk is not recommended by the NHS as a main drink for infants in this age range (NHS, 2018). Table 2 presents consumption data for milk as a drink only. As these values are only slightly lower than the combined exposures in Table 1, milk as a drink dominating consumption in all age groups above 6 months, exposure assessments have been undertaken using the highest consumption estimates from Table 1.  

Table 1. Estimated chronic consumption of cow’s milk in consumers (as a drink and with recipes).

Table 2. Estimated chronic consumption of cow’s milk in consumers (as a drink without recipes).

11.             Exposure assessments utilising these data cover the general population at both mean and high levels of consumption.