Sunflower seeds, dry-roasted

Listed nutrients, per 100 g

For each nutrient, the value this page uses is marked “used”. A row marked “second database” is another database’s figure for a matching food, kept so you can see how far databases disagree (they can differ in the samples analysed, lab methods and rounding). Its own cells are worked out from it, but none of the page’s words or scores are.

Change the amount to rescale the first column. Nutrients a database doesn't list are missing, not zero.

Hazard rows as the dataset rates them

• Aflatoxins · Nothing to watch: doesn’t double average intake · No cap: no safe limit is set for aflatoxin B1; EFSA's 2020 reference point is a benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL10) of 0.4 µg/kg body weight/day. A 30 g serving adds 2.8 ng (lower bound) to 16.1 ng (upper bound), 0.040-0.230 ng/kg body weight/day at 70 kg: +8% to +18% on EFSA's lower-bound adult mean (0.22-0.49) and +7% to +17% on the upper-bound mean (1.35-3.25), under the doubling line. 97% of 656 European results were non-detects. · EFSA 2020 · A
• Aluminum · Nothing to watch: under the limit · No cap: EFSA's tolerable weekly intake for aluminium is 1 mg/kg body weight/week, 70,000 µg a week at 70 kg. At 0.8985 µg/g (15 yearly composites), about 77,908 g in a week, eaten alone, would reach it. A 30 g serving every day adds 189 µg a week, 0.3% of the limit; even the pooled 1993-99 value (4.489 µg/g) would give 1.3%. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · A
• Arsenic, all forms · Context · Shown as context, not rated: the Total Diet Study lower-bound mean of 8.15 ng/g (11 yearly composites) is total arsenic, so no inorganic share and no reference value is applied. A 30 g serving carries 0.24 µg; FDA's roasted salted seeds read 2.2 ppb (1 of 3 detected) and CFIA 0.016 ppm (17 samples). · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · A
• Cadmium · Go easy: can push past the limit · A daily serving adds 64% to an average adult's cadmium intake (EFSA 2012 adult median, 1.77 µg/kg body weight/week; Canadian adults in 2007: 1.2-1.75), short of doubling it, so no cap. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · A
• Choking risk under age 4 · Worth knowing · Health Canada: seeds are not safe for children younger than four years (whole or in pieces). · Health Canada, Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants: Recommendations… · A
• Glyphosate residues · Context · Context only: one positive in 12 screens and no concentration to compute against the acceptable daily intake (ADI) (EFSA 2023, 0.5 mg/kg body weight/day); not rated. Sunflower is a crop where pre-harvest glyphosate use is common, which is why it is listed. A concentration would need the CFIA annex row. · CFIA chemical residue monitoring (2016–2023) · A
• Lead · Nothing to watch: doesn’t double average intake · No cap: no safe limit is set for lead; EFSA's 2010 reference point is a benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL01) of 0.5 µg/kg body weight/day. A 30 g serving at the Total Diet Study lower-bound mean of 1.052 ng/g (15 yearly composites, 4 below detection and counted as zero) carries 31.6 ng, 0.00045 µg/kg body weight/day, 0.09% of that reference point. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · A
• Nickel · Nothing to watch: under the limit · No cap: EFSA's 2020 tolerable daily intake for nickel is 13 µg/kg body weight/day, 910 µg a day at 70 kg. At 3.212 µg/g (Total Diet Study, 15 yearly composites), about 283 g in one day, eaten alone, would reach it. A 30 g serving carries 96 µg (1.38 µg/kg body weight), 11% of the limit, and adds +35% to +68% to EFSA's adult background (3.16 µg/kg body weight/day middle bound, surveys 2.02-3.92), under the doubling line; at 50 g the add is +59% to +114%, which straddles it. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · A
• Nickel for people who are sensitised · Worth knowing · Flagged for people with nickel contact allergy: EFSA's 2020 lowest-observed-adverse-effect level is 4.3 µg Ni/kg body weight after a single oral dose, 301 µg at 70 kg. A 30 g serving carries 96 µg (1.38 µg/kg body weight), a margin of only 3.1, while EFSA treats 30 or more as low concern. About 94 g would reach the level itself, and 3.1 g leaves a margin of 30. · EFSA 2020 · A
• Ochratoxin A · Nothing to watch: doesn’t double average intake · No cap: no safe limit is set for ochratoxin A; EFSA's 2020 reference point is a benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL10) of 14.5 µg/kg body weight/day. A 30 g serving at the CFIA lower-bound mean of 0.4724 ng/g (46 samples, 14 detected) carries 14.2 ng, 0.202 ng/kg body weight/day, adding +5% to +12% to EFSA's adult mean on the lower bound (1.68-3.84 ng/kg body weight/day), under the doubling line. A few positives drive the mean (highest 19.73 ng/g, 592 ng or 8.5 ng/kg body weight in one sitting), so the upper bound could be higher and was not computed. · CFIA ochratoxin A survey (2012–2022) · B
• Oxalate for kidney-stone formers · Not rated yet · Not rated: the only figure is 30 mg oxalate per 100 g from a patient-foundation list with no stated method. For people who form calcium-oxalate stones, the list gives 9 mg for its 29 g serving, under its own 25 mg low-oxalate line. · Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation 2024 · B
• Pesticide residues · Context · Context only (pesticide residues are not scored). No positive in 22 screens. · CFIA chemical residue monitoring (2016–2023) · A
• Salmonella · Context · Context only: no sunflower sample positive in Ireland 2012. The FSAI background section cites a UK 2007 survey in which sunflower was among the seed types with Salmonella (23 of 3,735 dried seed samples positive overall, over half sesame); no sunflower count is given. · FSAI 2012 · B

Oxalate, phytate and gut-tolerance measurements

• fodmap gos: Monash threshold as relayed by a dietitian page: low FODMAP at 15 g; moderate GOS at 17 g. No g/100 g figure. serve size at threshold · as eaten, preparation not stated · not stated · grade C · George Eats, Low FODMAP nuts and seeds

Sources

• CFIA, National Chemical Residue Monitoring Program, Annex B results summaries 2016-17 to 2022-23, Table B-1 domestic and B-2 imported (open.canada.ca datasets 95a14ca0, c87af563, a2ea8989, 9e5211c8, a5cb7c3c, 6567ac46, cf149850); positives-only means, no detection limits stated; pooled by us
  cfia-ncrmp-annex-b-2016-2023 · dataset · Government of Canada terms (Crown copyright)
• CFIA, Food Safety Action Plan Targeted Survey - Ochratoxin A in Selected Foods, 2012-2018 and 2019-2022
  cfia-ota-2012-2022 · dataset · Open Government Licence - Canada 2.0 (as for the other CFIA datasets; not checked on this page)
• Health Canada, Canadian Nutrient File 2026 (14th edition)
  cnf-2026 · dataset · Open Government Licence – Canada 2.0
• EFSA (2020) Annexes to the risk assessment of aflatoxins in food, Annex B (occurrence tables), Zenodo · doi:10.5281/zenodo.3607186
  efsa-2020-aflatoxins-annex · dataset · CC BY 4.0
• EFSA CONTAM Panel (2020). Update of the risk assessment of nickel in food and drinking water. EFSA Journal 18(11):6268 (PMC7643711) · doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6268 · doi.org
  efsa-2020-nickel · full text read · CC BY (EFSA Journal)
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, 2018-04
  fdc-sr-legacy-2018-04 · dataset · CC0 1.0 (public domain)
• Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Bacteriological and Chemical Safety of Ready-to-Eat Dried Seeds and Ready-to-Eat Nuts (10NS1), August 2012
  fsai-10ns1-2012 · full text read · unknown
• George Eats, Low FODMAP nuts and seeds (dietitian page reproducing Monash University thresholds; header dated 29/03/2023 and 12/08/2026)
  georgeats-lowfodmap-nuts-seeds · page · unknown (secondary reproduction of Monash data)
• Health Canada, Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants: Recommendations from Six to 24 Months
  hc-infant-nutrition-6-24-months · page · Government of Canada terms (Crown copyright; not OGL)
• Health Canada, Canadian Total Diet Study – Trace Elements (2005–2018 composites)
  hc-tds-trace-elements · dataset · Open Government Licence – Canada 2.0
• Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation. Oxalate list (022724), 2024
  ohf-oxalate-list-2024 · full text read · copyright OHF

Body map 2026-10-25.1: each nutrient’s job comes from an agency fact sheet, linked beside it under Good for.

The plain words: “a lot” means one serving (100 g when the food has no serving size) gives at least 20% of the daily amount (the reference intake), “some” at least 10%, “a little” at least 2% (the cut-offs are ours, one set for every page: 20% and 10% are borrowed from the US labelling terms “high” and “good source” and applied to Health Canada’s daily amount, whereas Health Canada’s own shopper rule says 15%; provisional: they may change in a later method version). The daily amount is Health Canada’s Dietary Reference Intake for adults 19–30; where men and women need different amounts we use the higher one (protein: 56 g for men, 46 g for women). The percentage printed under each nutrient is the printed amount as a share of that daily amount, rounded to the nearest whole number, and the word is read from that percentage, so the amount, the percentage and the word always agree. Calcium with a measured absorption is scaled by how well it gets in compared with milk.

The scale: “Nothing to watch” means a serving a day stays under the limit at ordinary amounts; “Go easy” means a serving a day can push past the limit for adults who already take in the most, or fewer than 2 servings reach it; “Limit it” means once a week or less. The dataset’s own rating is under “How we got this”. Provisional: the scale may change in a later method version.

Measured absorption under Good for: grade-A studies in adults that tested this preparation of this food, as a share of the listed amount (the share digested, for protein), quoted once each source has passed our evidence check; animal studies and other variants stay in the table above. Provisional: this screen may change in a later method version.