Internal report on the quantification of food supplements units to be used in the assessment of dietary exposure

The Comprehensive Food Consumption Database was developed in 2010 and is a source of information on food consumption across the European Union. Information on the consumption of food supplements, reported in units (i.e. tablets, capsules, drops etc.) is also included. The occurrence of different hazards (e.g. chemical contaminants and food additives) in food supplements makes it extremely important to have food supplements quantified in grams, which has been reported as very difficult task by Member States. For this reason, EFSA decided to analyse the information available in the Comprehensive database on the consumption of food supplements and create a database from which standard weights per type of supplements were extracted. Both FoodEx2 classification and unit weight were checked and adjusted for each food supplement record. Food supplements were divided based on their main ingredient and FoodEx2 classification code, and then further divided on the type of unit. The average weight was calculated for each group. The unit weights suggested in this document represent a step-forward into the harmonisation and standardisation of the methodologies used in EFSA. Harmonising the use of the unit weight of the food supplements, instead of a case-by-case approach, is a step to improve the quality and validity of EFSA’s scientific outputs.