Occurrence and Dietary Exposure of Adult Population to Phthalates in Hong Kong

This study aimed (1) to determine the levels of seven phthalates including Di-Ethyl Phthalate (DEP), Di-n-Butyl Phthalate (DnBP), Butyl Benzyl Phthalate (BBzP), Di-(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP), Di-n-Octyl Phthalate (DnOP), Di-isononyl Phthalate (DiNP) and Di-isodecyl Phthalate (DiDP) in selected foods that are commonly consumed in Hong Kong as well as foods those are reported to be adulterated with phthalates; (2) to estimate the dietary exposure to phthalates of the Hong Kong adult populations at territory-wide scale; and (3) to assess the health risk associated with the exposure. Total Diet Study (TDS) approach was used to assess the associated health risk to the local people. Among the seven phthalates examined, DEHP was the most commonly detected phthalate, followed by DiNP, DnBP, BBzP, DiDP, DEP and DnOP. The maximum detected levels were found to be 23, 43, 93, 560, 3,500, 3,800 and 7,900 µg kg-1 for DnOP, DEP, BBzP, DnBP, DEHP, DiDP and DiNP respectively. It is believed that elevated levels of phthalates detected in isolated samples were more related to chemical nature of the food substrates. Food contact materials used in food manufacturing and packaging may also explain the situation. This study estimated that the dietary exposures to seven phthalates analyzed in the average adult consumer population ranged from a low of 0.098 μgkg-bw-1 day-1 for DnOP (upper bound) to a high of 4.8 μgkg-bw-1 day-1 in the case of DiNP. The exposure to both average and high consumers (95th percentile, or P95) of the adult populations were well within the corresponding Health-Based Guidance Values (HBGVs) for individual phthalate (maximum 13% of HBGVs). Furthermore, no age-sex population sub-group exceeded their respective HBGVs. The findings indicate that dietary exposures to seven phthalates analyzed in this study were unlikely to pose an unacceptable health risk to the Hong Kong population. The food group cereal and its products was the major contributor for DnBP, BBzP, DEHP, DnOP and DiNP dietary exposure, while non-alcoholic drinks and poultry were the major contributors for DEPs and DiDPs, respectively.