Italian study finds children at high risk of cadmium exposure from pasta and cereal-based foods

A laboratory review of 100 staple foods sold in Italy reveals that children, especially those aged one to nine, face significant cadmium exposure from pasta, bread, and biscuits, prompting calls for stricter monitoring and policy changes.

Cadmium, a toxic heavy metal linked to cancer and kidney damage, is now under fresh scrutiny after a laboratory review of 100 staple foods sold in Italian supermarkets and discount stores found that children face the greatest exposure risk, especially from pasta. The investigation, carried out by Il Salvagente and Valori.it and published alongside ilfattoquotidiano.it, looked at five everyday categories: pasta, rice, bread, biscuits and breakfast cereals. It used laboratory testing and consumption data from the official Inran Scan IV survey to estimate real-world exposure by age, sex and body weight.

The findings are reassuring for most adults, but much less so for younger children. According to the researchers led by Luana Izzo of the University of Naples Federico II, the balance changes sharply in paediatric groups because children eat more relative to their body mass. The most exposed group was children aged one to two, while heavy pasta eaters aged three to nine also came close to or above safety thresholds. In some cases, the highest measured cadmium levels pushed total weekly intake above the European Food Safety Authority’s tolerable limit.

Pasta emerged as the clearest concern. For children aged one to nine, pasta alone accounted for roughly 27.4% to 44% of the tolerable weekly intake, depending on age and consumption patterns. At the top end of exposure, one- to two-year-olds who ate large amounts of pasta reached 143.7% of the weekly limit set by the European Food Safety Authority. The report also found that high-consuming boys aged three to nine exceeded the threshold, while older children generally had lower relative exposure because of their greater body weight.

The problem does not stop with pasta. The study says cadmium is present across the cereal-based diet, so a child who regularly eats pasta, bread and biscuits can accumulate a far higher overall dose than any single food would suggest. Among girls aged three to nine, rice could contribute up to 33.5% of weekly exposure, while bread reached 25.5% for boys in the same age group. Ordinary biscuits could account for 25.5% of the weekly limit, although products made specifically for infants performed better, reaching only 7.6% thanks to tighter rules.

Cadmium occurs naturally in the environment, but the main driver of dietary contamination is agriculture, particularly phosphate fertilisers and, in some cases, certain waste products used on land. Once in soil, the metal is taken up by plants and moves into the food chain. The European Commission says cereals are among the main contributors to dietary cadmium exposure across Europe, and it identifies the metal as a human carcinogen. The Italian investigation argues that one response is simple product variety, but says a wider policy shift is needed too: more monitoring of population exposure and lower cadmium levels in fertilisers, along the lines of the French regulator ANSES, which has warned of widespread overexposure in France. The full Italian investigation was presented online on 8 September, with contributions from Rita Cantalino, Riccardo Quintili and Andrea Barolini.