Acceptable Daily Intake or ADI is a measure of a specific substance (usually a food additive) in food or drinking water that can be ingested over a lifetime without an appreciable health risk. ADIs are expressed by body mass, usually in milligrams per kilograms of body mass.

This concept was first introduced in 1957 by the Council of Europe and later the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization.

An ADI value is based on current research, with long-term studies on animals and observations of humans. First, a No Effect Level, the amount of a substance that causes no toxic effects, is determined. Then, the NEL is scaled by a safety factor, usually 100, to account for the lack of positive reliability on animal testing and possible differences in sensitivity in the human population. Finally, the value is applied to the standard body mass of 60 kg to arrive at the human ADI. Note that the ADI is considered a safe intake level.

External links

• Questions and Answers about Acceptable Daily Intake (http://www.ific.org/publications/qa/adiqa.cfm)
• US Food and Drug Administration's Cumulative Estimated Daily Intake/Acceptable Daily Intake Database for food contact substances (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-edi.html)