Cadmium is also naturally present in the silt on the ocean floor and occurs in the flesh of crustaceans and molluscs who feed on ocean floor debris. Concerns about the long term effects of cadmium in the environment have raised the issue of the level of cadmium in food and agricultural products. Any consideration of cadmium levels in food and agricultural products has implications not only for health and safety but also for trade. At the request of the NFA the terms of the workshop were extended to include cadmium levels in foods. The recommendations of the workshop are not yet available but one probable outcome will be an intensive programme to minimise the addition via fertilisers of cadmium to Australian soil.
Considerable variation exists in the ways in which cadmium in food is regulated in other countries.
In the United Kingdom the Ministry of Health is carrying out further surveillance on cadmium levels. The code applies when any nutrient claim appears on a food label or in an advertisement for food. These include the Council of Australian Food Technology Associations, Grocery Manufacturers of Australia, Food Industry Council of Australia, Food and Beverage Importers Association and the Australian Supermarket Institute. Nutrient claims already controlled by existing legislation are not included in this Code of Practice. Voluntary codes of practice aim to provide guidance and assistance to the food industry on a self-regulating and cooperative basis.