Analysis of phthalates in food products and packaging materials sold on the Belgian market

Phthalates are organic lipophilic compounds that are principally used as plasticiser to increase the flexibility of plastic polymers. Other applications are a.o. the use of phthalates in printing inks and lacquers. Human exposure to phthalates mainly occurs via food ingestion and can induce adverse health effects. In this study, the presence of eight phthalate compounds - dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) and di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP) - was investigated in 400 food products, divided over eleven groups, and packages sold on the Belgian market. For this purpose, suitable extraction techniques were developed and validated for four different matrices, namely high-fat foods, low-fat food products, aqueous-based beverages and packaging materials. The instrumental analysis was performed by means of gas chromatography-low resolution-mass spectrometry with electron impact ionisation (GC-EI-MS). A wide variety of phthalate concentrations was observed in the different groups. DEHP was found in the highest concentration in almost every group. Moreover, DEHP was the most abundant phthalate compound, followed by DiBP, DnBP and BBP. This survey is part of the PHTAL project, which is the first project that discusses phthalate contamination on the Belgian food market.

► The occurrence of eight phthalates was investigated in 400 foodstuffs and packaging materials sold on the Belgian market. ► Suitable extraction techniques were developed and validated for four different matrices. ► DEHP, DiBP, DnBP and BBP were the most abundant phthalate compounds. ► DEHP levels were the highest of all phthalate levels in every investigated group.