Determination of ethyl carbamate in soy sauce from Korean market

This study was conducted to monitor the concentration of ethyl carbamate in three different types of soy sauce commercially available in Korea. A total of 90 soy sauces, including 35 fermented, 44 mixed and 11 traditional products, were collected and analysed for ethyl carbamate using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The concentrations of ethyl carbamate ranged from not-detected to 73.2 μg/kg with a mean value of 7.4 μg/kg. The proportion of positive samples was about twice as high in fermented soy sauce (57%) compared to mixed (25%) and traditional (27%) products. The estimated mean and 95th percentile exposure to ethyl carbamate from soy sauce were 0.80 and 2.82 ng/kg body weight (bw) per day, respectively. Using the benchmark dose lower confidence limit 10% (BMDL10) of 0.3 mg/kg bw per day, the margins of exposure (MOEs) were 374,000 for mean exposure and 106,000 for 95th percentile exposure. These results indicate that exposure to ethyl carbamate from soy sauce in the Korean population is unlikely to be of health concern.