Occurrence of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) esters and glycidyl esters in infant formulas from Germany

ABSTRACT

Fatty acid esters of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD), 2-monochloropropanediol-1,3-diol (2-MCPD), and glycidol are heat-induced processing contaminants formed during the deodorisation step of edible oil refining. Because these compounds are potentially carcinogenic and/or genotoxic, their presence in refined oils and fats and foods containing these oils/fats poses possible health concerns. In particular, formula-fed infants may be exposed to these compounds due to their presence in commercial infant formulas. For this reason, in 2018, the European Union established maximum limits for glycidyl esters in oils/fats and infant formulas and recently, as of January 2021, implemented regulations for the sum of free 3-MCPD and 3-MCPD fatty acid esters as well. This work involved the analysis of 3-MCPD and glycidyl ester contents in 45 infant formula products purchased from German supermarkets in 2019. The data produced in this study showed that average contaminant concentrations across all manufacturers were exceptionally low, with 100% of the products analysed falling below the current EU regulation for glycidyl esters in powdered formulas and 96% of the products analysed meeting the recently implemented regulation for the sum of free and bound 3-MCPD. In addition, a comparison of the 2019 data set to occurrence data collected for German formulas purchased in 2015 showed that average bound 3-MCPD and glycidol concentrations have decreased (from 0.094 to 0.054 µg g⁻¹ and from 0.010 to 0.006 µg g⁻¹, respectively), likely indicating that additional/improved mitigation measures for reducing contaminant concentrations in infant formulas have been implemented over the 4-year period. The data collected in this occurrence study are suitable for estimating levels of exposure to these compounds for German infants.

Abbreviations: 2-MCPD: 2-monochloropropane-1,3-diol; 3-MCPD: 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol; ARA: arachidonic acid; CE: collision energy; CXP: collision cell exit potential; DHA: docosahexaenoic acid; DP: declustering potential; EP: entrance potential; EPA: eicosapentaenoic acid; EtOAc: ethyl acetate; IPA: isopropanol; LC-MS/MS: liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; MeOH: methanol; MTBE: methyl tert-butyl ether; SPE: solid-phase extraction.

KEYWORDS:

• 3-monochloropropane-1
• 2-diol
• 3-MCPD
• 3-MCPD esters
• glycidol
• glycidyl esters
• infant formulas
• processing contaminants
• occurrence data

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Supplementary material

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