Analysis of perchlorate in baby food on Canadian (Ottawa) markets in 2009 and estimated dietary exposure

ABSTRACT

In order to determine the baseline levels of perchlorate in major brands of baby food, 200 baby food products were collected from retail stores in Ottawa, Canada and analysed for perchlorate in 2010. The seven food groups tested were fruit, juices, vegetables, meat, yogurt, mixed (vegetable mixed with meat) and other (e.g. vegetable mixed with meat and cereal, cheese, egg,). Samples were extracted with a mixture of methanol and 1% acetic acid (4:1, v/v). Determination was conducted by stable isotope dilution ion chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (ID-IC-MS/MS). The complexity of different food matrices required additional method validation. The perchlorate levels in 46 samples were found to be lower than the quantification limit (0.2 ng g⁻¹). The perchlorate levels in the other 154 baby food samples were also low; about 96.7% of the baby foods had perchlorate levels less than 10 ng g⁻¹ (ranged from 0.2 to 22.4 ng g⁻¹, median1.35 ng g⁻¹); only 5 samples had perchlorate levels higher than 10 ng g⁻¹. Dietary exposure to perchlorate from analysed baby food was conservatively estimated to range from 0.007 to 0.121 µg/kg bw/d based on the mean intake for children (1–5 years old).

KEYWORDS:

• ID-IC-MS/MS
• perchlorate
• baby food

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Bureau of Food Surveillance and Science Integration’s (Health Canada) help on sampling plan and dietary estimation; as well as Dr. Adam Becalski, Mr. Kuang Chiao Wang, Dr. Thea Rawn, Chemical Health Hazard Assessment Division, for providing helpful comments to the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.