Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels and risk assessment for food from service facilities in Korea

ABSTRACT

In this study, levels of benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene and indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene in 412 food items collected from food service facilities in Korea were analysed. The concentrations of the eight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) ranged 0.13–0.48 μg/kg. The concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene in all food samples were <1 μg/kg, which is the lowest maximum limit in foods regulated by European Union legislation. PAH contents were employed to conduct exposure and risk assessment. The chronic daily intake of PAHs from 412 food samples was 5.48 × 10^–6-4.70 ×x 10^–4 µg-TEQ_BaP/kg/day with margins of exposure of 1.04 × 10⁹-1.16 × 10¹¹.

KEYWORDS:

• PAHs
• monitoring
• exposure
• risk assessment
• GC-MS
• food service facilities

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant (14162MFDS072) from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2015 and the R&D Convergence Center Support Program, Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, Republic of Korea.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This researchwas supported by a grant [14162MFDS072] from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2015 and the R&D Convergence Center Support Program, Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs.