Dietary exposure assessment to pesticides in Croatian school-children—the methodology of the Zagreb region total diet study

We present the methodology of the Total Diet Study (TDS-Zagreb) conducted in the City of Zagreb, on which an estimation of dietary exposure to pesticide residues in male adolescents in the ongoing PyrOPECh cohort study (HrZZ-IP-2019-04-7193; https://pyropech.imi.hr/index.php/project-summary-sazetak/) will be based. In the first phase, a list of core foods was extracted from the EFSA’s Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database, using food consumption data for the adult Croatian population. Due to the lack of data for Croatian adolescents, the list was modified using the data for adolescents from the Slovenian food consumption survey. In total, 169 items were mapped and categorised into 18 food groups. Types of consumed foods did not differ much between Croatian adults and Slovenian adolescents. For most of the food groups coverage was at least 95% of the diet. Observed differences for water-based desserts and seasoning and sauces intake were specific for the respective national cuisine. Since the intake of coffee drinks and wine was typically higher in the adult population and older adolescents, these items were excluded from the sampling list. Additionally, specific food (mainly fruits and vegetables) with low intake, but which are expected to be important contributors to pesticide exposure, were added to the list. In the second phase, food was purchased and prepared “as consumed”. Three to 5 subsamples were pooled into a composite sample, homogenised, and stored at − 20 °C until analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this type of study has never been conducted in south-eastern European countries, including Croatia.