Dietary intake of legacy and emerging halogenated flame retardants using food market basket estimations in Nanjing, eastern China. (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jian, Kang; Zhao, Luming; Ya, Miaolei; Zhang, Yayun; Su, Huijun; Meng, Weikun; Li, Jianhua; Su, Guanyong
• Is Part Of: Environmental pollution. Volume 258(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers -- Emerging halogenated flame retardants -- Hexabromobenzene -- Dietary intake -- Health risk; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Effets physiologiques -- Périodiques; Pollution; Pollution -- Environmental aspects; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 363.73
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113737
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-7491

Abstract

Abstract: Food products are inevitably contaminated by flame retardants throughout their lifecycle (i.e., during production, use, and disposal). In order to evaluate the dietary intake of legacy and emerging halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) in typical market food in China, we investigate the distribution and profile of 27 legacy polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 16 emerging HFRs (EHFRs) in 9 food categories (meat, poultry, aquatic food, eggs, dairy products, cereals, vegetables, nuts and fruits, and sugar). A total of 105 food samples collected from three markets in Nanjing, eastern China were included for evaluation. The highest concentrations of PBDEs and EHFRs were found in aquatic foods (means of 0.834 ng/g wet weight (ww) and 0.348 ng/g ww, respectively), and the lowest concentrations were found in sugar (means of 0.020 ng/g ww for PBDEs and 0.014 ng/g ww for EHFRs). 2, 2′, 4-tribromodiphenyl ether (BDE-17), a legacy HFR, and hexabromobenzene (HBBz), an EHFR, were the predominant pollutants in the investigated food samples. Concentrations of HBBz and 2, 3-dibromopropyl tribromophenyl ether (DPTE) were comparable to those of some PBDEs in certain food samples. The concentrations of the total EHFRs and total PBDEs found in animal-based food samples were significantly greater than those in plant-based food samples. Comparison of the estimated total dietary intake of HFRs and their corresponding non-cancer reference dose (United States Environmental Protection Agency) suggests a low overall health risk. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to simultaneously determine 27 PBDEs and 16 EHFRs in representative foods from Chinese markets. BDE-17, HBBz, and DPTE were the predominant congeners among the 43 investigated HFRs and meat and aquatic foods were the primary sources of PBDEs and EHFRs to the total local dietary intake. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Concentrations of 43 HFRs were determined in n = 105 food samples. Aquatic foods contained the greatest concentrations of HFRs. BDE-17, HBBz, and DPTE were the predominant HFRs. HFR concentrations in animal-based foods were significantly greater than plant-based ones. EDI of HFRs was lower than the RfD proposed by USEPA. Abstract : Two emerging flame retardants, namely HBBz and DPTE, were frequently found in food samples.