Comparing many French food surveys results to generalize the risky feeding behaviors.

Titre du congrès :ISEE 2007
Ville du congrès :Mexico
Date du congrès :05/09/2007

Context and objectives
In 2004, the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (in the framework of its project Radioecological Sensitivity,
SENSIB), in collaboration with AREVA and BEGEAT, analysed the food practices of the populations living in Bollene near the nuclear site
of Tricastin (France, in the Rhone valley). One main objective of the survey was to better quantify the potential impact of operation of
nuclear installations via the exposure by ingestion of potentially contaminated foodstuff. The obtained data allowed proposing daily food
ration averages and identifying the rate of home consumption food. The data treatment revealed the existence of a local group of
population which still has a very high home consumption rate: almost 100% for some foodstuffs.
These surprising results led us to compare them with those of other surveys with the aim of generalizing the risky feeding
behaviors.
Material and methods
The food quantities ingested by the population of Bollene and the home consumption rate for every categories of food were compared
with the data obtained during one survey in the same geographical area for three towns (Codolet, Tresques and Arles), with the most
recent survey made near the nuclear installation of Civaux in the centre of France, with the national French survey (INSEE) and with the
food data of Mediterranean area and whole France included in the database CIBLEX.
The database CIBLEX allows also the comparison with particular food behaviour based on the results of several dietary surveys.
Results
The comparison of the food surveys results show that the quantities consumed and the home consumption rates in Bollene are higher
for many kinds of food. These rates compared with those quoted in CIBLEX for the agricultural population show that locally-produced
foodstuffs can be rather frequently consumed in high quantities: almost 80% for vegetables and 60% for poultry. This comparison
highlighted also spatial and temporal trends; the vegetables rates are globally higher in the South of France and in summer.
Conclusion
This comparative study highlighted the important variability of the particular food behaviors of the French population and proposes
realistic generalized values for risky feeding behaviors.