Toxaphene levels in retail food from the Pearl River Delta area of South China and an assessment of dietary intake

Limited literature exists on toxaphene contamination in food worldwide, particularly in mainland China. In this study, three toxaphene congeners, Parlar 26 (B8-1413), Parlar 50 (B9-1679) and Parlar 62 (B9-1025), were analyzed in five different food categories from the Pearl River Delta Area in China using isotope dilution high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS), and toxaphene levels in food were reported and toxaphene dietary intake by local residents estimated. The results showed that fish contained the highest toxaphene level with a median of 12.87 pg/g wet weight (ww), followed by poultry meat, egg products, livestock meat and vegetable, which had median levels of 5.8, 2.2, 1.89 and 0.67 pg/g ww, respectively. Parlar 50 and Parlar 26 were the predominant characteristic congeners in fish, and Parlar 26 was the predominant congener not only in poultry products and eggs, but also in livestock and vegetable. The estimated average daily intake found by local residents was 35.57 pg/kg body weight/day. Overall toxaphene levels and estimated dietary intake in the Pearl River Delta Area of South China are far lower than the European Maximum Residue Limits (EU MRLs), the German MRL for fish, and other international literature data. Therefore, the risk of adverse health effects from dietary intakes of toxaphene for the local residents is not considerable at the current time, but follow-ups are warranted to study dynamic changes of toxaphene in food in this area.