What makes tracking the total additive load difficult for consumers despite single-item limits?

Cumulative exposure from multiple sources throughout the day compounds intake

While regulatory agencies establish strict limits for individual food products to ensure safety for a single serving or item, consumers face a complex challenge regarding total daily intake. The difficulty arises because the same preservative or coloring agent used in one compliant product, like bread, may also be present in another compliant product, such as a packaged snack. When these individual intakes are summed over an entire day across various food sources, the resulting cumulative exposure load can significantly exceed what was intended by single-item regulation, making it hard for the average consumer to monitor accurately.