International audience ; An exposure assessment was performed to estimate usual daily benzoic acid intake in Belgian adults. Food consumption data were retrieved from the national food consumption survey. In a first step, individual food consumption data were multiplied with the maximum permitted use levels for benzoic acid per food group (Tier 2). In a second step, a label survey to identify the foods where benzoic acid is effectively used as an additive and a literature review of the possible occurrence of benzoic acid as a natural substance, were performed. With this information a refined list of foods was drafted for the quantification of benzoic acid, which was performed by a high performance liquid chromatography method, optimized and validated for this purpose. Individual food consumption data were then multiplied with the actual average concentrations of benzoic acid per food group (Tier 3). Usual intakes were calculated using the Nusser method. The mean benzoic acid intake was 1.58 mg/kg bw/day (Tier 2) and 1.25 mg/kg bw/day (Tier 3). In Tier 2, men exceeded the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 5 mg/kg bw/day at the 99th percentile. The greatest contributors to the benzoic acid intake were soft drinks. Benzoic acid as a natural substance represents only a small percentage of the total intake. The results show that actual benzoic acid intake is very likely to be below the ADI. However, there is a need to collect national food consumption data for children as they might be more vulnerable for an excessive intake.