Search

In this study, 241 vegetable-oil food samples were collected from the Hangzhou market in China and analysed for fatty acid esters of 3- and 2-monochloropropanediol (3-MCPD and 2-MCPD) using non-derivative gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Food consumption data were taken from a food consumption survey of urban and rural residents in Hangzhou city performed in 2010-2011. Levels of 3-MCPD esters in edible oil ranged from not detected to 7.98 mg/kg, and the highest mean levels were found in tea seed oil, with concentrations of 2.94 mg/kg. Esters of 2-MCPD levels ranged from not detected to 4.03 mg/kg, and the highest mean levels were also found in tea seed oil, containing 1.49 mg/kg. The range of mean dietary intake of 3-MCPD esters in different groups of edible oil was from 0.096 to 1.54 μg/kg body weight (bw) per day, which is lower than the tolerable daily intake (TDI) established by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (2 μg/kg bw/day). For people aged above 6 years old, the dietary intake of 3-MCPD from edible oil was 0.42 μg/kg bw per day (mean) and 1.22 μg/kg bw per day (P97.5). The range of mean dietary intake of 2-MCPD esters in different groups of edible oil was from 0.025 to 0.79 μg/kg bw/day, and 2-MCPD esters intake was 0.20 μg/kg bw per day (mean) and 0.60 μg/kg bw per day (P97.5). In addition, the dietary intake exposure to 3-MCPD and 2-MCPD esters for urban residents was lower than that for rural residents. The findings indicate that the potential health risks caused by dietary 3-MCPD esters from edible oils were of low concern for most of the Hangzhou residents. However, the exposure risk for consumers with excessive consumption of certain kind of edible oil calls for attention.

This study describes the migration of 20 phthalates from breast milk storage bags to breast milk after storage frozen for 1 to 6 months. Analysis of the investigated phthalates was performed by GC-MS/MS. Nine phthalates were found in some of the 27 breast milk storage bags, six phthalates were detected in some of the 40 breast milk samples, but the concentrations were low, except for one sample, which contained dibutyl phthalate (DBP) at the level of 211.2 µg/kg. For most of the breast milk samples stored in breast milk storage bags, the migration of diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), DBP and di-ethyl-hexyl phthalate (DEHP) increased with increasing storage time, but the migration of DBP and DEHP was lower than the migration limits of 300 µg/kg and 1500 µg/kg from the National Standards of the PRC even after storage for six months. The average daily intakes of DMP, DEP, DIBP, DBP and DEHP were 0.099, 0.39, 0.62, 2.89 and 1.13 µg/kg/d, respectively, and the hazard indices were far below 1.

A detection method for 20 different phthalate esters (PAEs) in breast milk analyzed by quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) clean-up with five internal standards and quantitative GC-MS/MS was established. This method can effectively remove interfering substances such as lipids and fatty acids from breast milk using acetonitrile as the extraction solvent and PSA/C18 as clean-up materials. The 20 PAEs had a linear range of 5.0-500.0 µg/L and recoveries of 83.3-123.3% with RSDs of 0.2-7.6% (n = 6). The method detection limits (LODs) were 0.004-1.3 µg/kg. Dimethyl phthalate (DMP), Diethyl phthalate (DEP), Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were detected in the 35 breast milk samples, with median levels of 1.2, 6.8, 7.3, 32.9 and 13.6 μg/kg, respectively, and the concentrations of 20 PAEs ranged between 0.5 and 137.3 μg/kg. This is a fast, simple, sensitive and accurate method for the detection of 20 PAEs in breast milk or dairy products.

A qualitative and quantitative determination method for chloropropanols in soy sauce was developed by GC-MS/MS with coupled column separation without derivatisation. The target compounds were 1,3-dichloropropan-2-ol (1,3-DCP), 2,3-dichloropropan-1-ol (2,3-DCP), 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) and 2-monochloropropane-1,3-diol (2-MCPD). 3-MCPD-d(5) was used as an isotope internal standard for MCPDs and 1,3-DCP-d(5) for DCPs. After spiking with internal standards and mixed with 1 g of Extrelut™ NT, about 1 g of the sample was washed by 4 ml of hexane and the analytes were eluted with 15 ml of 95% (v/v) ethyl ether/hexane mixture. The concentrated extract was directly injected without derivatisation, separated by a coupled column - a 3 m Innowax (polyethylene glycol) combined with a 30 m DB-5 ms ((5%-phenyl)-methylpolysiloxane) by a quartz capillary column connector - and detected by GC-MS/MS. The limits of detection (LODs) in the sample matrix were 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 5.0 µg kg(-1) for the above chloropropanols, respectively. The relative proportions of 2-MCPD/3-MCPD ranged from 0.19 to 3.74 in soy sauce samples. 2,3-DCP and 2-MCPD were more stable than 1,3-DCP and 3-MCPD under alkaline condition. The levels of chloropropanols can be decreased by an alkaline treatment process.