Organophosphate esters in UK diet; exposure and risk assessment

Food ingestion has been established as an important human exposure route to many environmental contaminants (brominated flame retardants, dioxins, organochlorine pesticides etc). However, information regarding dietary expo- sure to organophosphate esters (OPEs) in the UK remains limited. This study provides the first comprehensive dataset on OPEs in the UK diet by measuring concentrations of eight OPEs in 393 food samples, divided into 15 food groups, collected from Birmingham, UK. All target OPEs were measured above the limit of quantification in at least one of the food groups analysed. Concentrations were highest (mean 18OPEs=18.4 ng/g wet weight (ww)) in milk and milk products, followed by those in cereal and cereal products (mean 18OPEs=15.9 ng/g ww), with concentrations lowest in chickens' eggs (mean 18OPEs=1.61 ng/g ww). Interestingly, concentrations in animal-derived foods (mean 18OPEs=44.2 ng/g ww) were statistically indistinguishable (p'0.05) from plant-derived foods (mean 18OPEs=36.8 ng/g ww). Estimated daily dietary intakes (EDIs) of 18OPEs under mean and high-end exposure scenarios for the four age groups considered were: toddlers (420 and 1547 ng/kg bw/day) ' children (155 and 836) ' elderly (74.3 and 377) ' adults (62.3 and 278) ng/kg bw/day, respectively. Baby food contributed 39 % of 18OPEs exposure for toddlers, with non-alcoholic beverages contributing 27 % of exposure for children, while cereal and cereal products (25 %) and fruits (22 %) were the main contributors for adults and the elderly. The concentrations of OPEs in UK foodstuffs were generally of the same order of magnitude as those reported for other countries and our estimates of dietary exposure were well below the corresponding health-based limit values.