Occurrence of volatile organic compounds in foods from the Belgian market and dietary exposure assessment

• Volatile Organic Compounds are omnipresent in the food chain, but in low concentrations.
• Chloroform, toluene, ethyl benzene, o-xylene and benzene were frequently detected.
• The dietary intake of VOCs was below the toxicological thresholds.

Because volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous in the environment and may represent health risks, it is important to know whether they are present in our diet and to identify possible sources in order to reduce daily intake. In the present study, 377 food samples from the Belgian market were screened for the presence of 21 VOCs. The most prevalent of these compounds and respective percentages of occurrence were: chloroform (97%), toluene (95%), ethyl benzene (80%), o-xylene (79%) and benzene (58%). Dietary intake by the Belgian adult population was calculated for these five most prevalent VOCs. The maximum probabilistic dietary intake was with 0.151, 0.645, 0.138, 0.066 and 0.118 μg kg bw−1 day−1 for chloroform, toluene, ethyl benzene, o-xylene and benzene respectively below the minimal risk level (MRL) set for each of the VOCs for oral chronic/acute exposure and below the Reference Dose for Chronic Oral Exposure (RfD). The Margin of Exposure (MOE) for benzene was significantly larger than 100,000. Therefore, it was concluded that the dietary exposure to VOCs for the Belgian adult population does not impose health risks.