The highest exposure would be for As in the case of refined and wholegrain cookies supplemented with higher doses of hull-less barley and sunflower seed, reaching up to 11% PTDIs. Supplementation with hull-less barley would contribute to higher intakes of Pb and Cd than with sunflower seed, these being estimated as over 8% of PTDIs for Pb and over 5% of PTDIs for Cd, in the case of cookies supplemented with higher doses of ingredients. The exposure to Cd and Pb by the consumption of 100 g of cookies supplemented with high-oleic sunflower seed was estimated to be less than 5% of the PTDIs. The anticipated intake of mercury was low, ranging from 0.25–0.44% for barley-supplemented cookies and 0.35–0.57% for sunflower seed-supplemented cookies.
The amounts of As, Pb and Cd deriving from the consumption of 100 g of these cookies are insignificant. Particularly, dietary patterns in adult populations are not likely to include the consumption of 100 g or more of cookies on a daily basis. Smaller serving sizes are more usual (25–30 g); therefore, it could be anticipated that even lower supplementation levels in cookies would contribute to lower intakes of harmful substances. But, there is a minor potential risk for other categories of consumers, such as children or groups who follow various diet forms, e.g. vegetarianism or macrobiotics, who might consume similar products in higher quantities than do the average population.