Quantification of allyl hexanoate in pineapple beverages and yogurts as a case study to characterise a source of uncertainty in dietary exposure assessment to flavouring substances

Abstract

One source of uncertainty in the estimation of dietary exposure to flavouring substances is the uncertainty in the occurrence and concentration levels of these substances naturally present or added to foodstuffs. The aim of this study was to assess the variability of concentration levels of allyl hexanoate, considered as a case study, in two main food categories to which it is often added: pineapple juice-based beverages and yogurts containing pineapple. Thirty-four beverages and 29 yogurts, with pineapple fruit or juice and added flavourings declared as ingredients on the package, were purchased from the local market (in Rome) and analysed. Analytical methods based on the stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) technique for the isolation of the target analyte, and on GC-MS analysis for final determination, were developed for the two food categories. In beverages, allyl hexanoate concentrations ranged from less than 0.01 to 16.71 mg l⁻¹, whereas in yogurts they ranged from 0.02 to 89.41 mg kg⁻¹. Average concentrations in beverages and yogurts with pineapple as the main fruit ingredient (1.91 mg l⁻¹ for beverages, 9.61 mg kg⁻¹ for yogurts) were in fair agreement with average use level data reported from industry surveys for the relevant food categories (4.5 and 6.0 mg kg⁻¹, respectively). Within the group of yogurts a single product was found to contain a level of allyl hexanoate more than 10-fold higher than the average reported use level. The screening techniques developed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) using use level data provided by industry gave estimates of exposure that were of the same order of magnitude as the estimates obtained for regular consumers who would be loyal to the pineapple yogurt and beverage products containing the highest observed concentration of the substance of interest. In this specific case the uncertainty in the results obtained with the use of standard screening techniques for exposure assessment based on industry reported use levels is low.

Keywords:

• beverages
• processed foods
• flavourings
• exposure assessment
• GC/MS
• extraction

Acknowledgements

The authors are most grateful to Professor Karl-Heinz Engel, Dr Gerhard Krammer and Anne-Marie Orth for their critical review of the manuscript and useful suggestions. This work was co-funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement 211686 (Project FACET – Flavours, Additives and Food Contact Material Exposure Task).