Annex A - Statement on the risk assessment of cow’s milk in children aged 6 months to 5 years, in the context of plant-based drinks evaluations

Consumption data - Annex A

Last updated: 04 October 2023

2.             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 for 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 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 worst case data from Table 1 (with recipes).

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

Age (months)

Number of Consumers

(g/person/day) Mean

(g/person/day)

97.5th percentile

(g/kg bw per day) Mean

(g/kg bw per day) 97.5th percentile

6 – <12

1257

120

460

13

48

12 – <18

1275

350

790

32

75

18 – <24

157

350

840

29

79

24 – <48

351

320

770

23

59

48 – <60

618

290

780

17

46

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

Age (months)

Number of Consumers

(g/kg bw per day) Mean

(g/kg bw per day) 97.5th percentile

12 – <18

1148

30

71

18 – <24

147

28

73

24 – <48

337

21

54

48 – <60

585

15

42