The potential health risks posed by food detergents -residual characteristics and exposure assessment
Date Issued
2014
Date
2014
Author(s)
Chen, Wun-Ling
Abstract
According to the ‘Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation’, food detergents are defined as the substances which can be utilized to clean food, food containers, appliances and packing. However, people’s health might be affected by widely-used detergents if the ingredients include arsenic, heavy metals (lead, for example) and nonylphenols. In order to promote public health and also to improve the quality of living, residual analysis for food detergents is a must.
In this study, residual analysis were performed to assess the health risks possibly caused by 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP), 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), nonylphenol technical mixture (t-NPs), p-n-nonylphenol monoethoxylate (NP1EO), arsenic and lead. The Taguchi experimental design was utilized to study the main factors that might affect the residual characteristics after the using of detergents.
After applying the detergents on fruits and vegetables and following the cleaning procedures, it was found that the residual concentrations of 4-t-OP, t-NPs and 4-NP were all lower than the detection limits. Including the varieties of fruits and vegetables (i.e., tomato, grape, cauliflower, cucumber, and mushroom), the concentrations of the analytes spiked, the concentrations of detergents, soaking time, cleaning time and the types of surfactants were found to have no effects on the residual concentrations of 4-t-OP, t-NPs, and 4-NP. As for arsenic, the residual concentrations ranged from N.D.~0.37 μg/L. The most important factor to affect the residuals was the varieties of fruits and vegetables (62.97%). Regarding lead, the residual concentrations ranges from N.D.~16.9 μg/L. The most important factor to affect the residuals was the varieties of fruits and vegetables (71.64%), followed by the concentrations of detergents (10.52%).
After applying the detergent on tableware and following the cleaning procedures, it was found the residual concentrations of 4-t-OP、t-NPs、4-NP and NP1EO in water extraction solution were lower than the detection limits. This suggests that the factors investigated had no effects on the associated residuals. For arsenic, the residual concentrations ranges from N.D.~0.17 μg/L. For lead, the residual concentrations ranges from N.D.~4.67 μg/L. On the other hand, in oil extraction solution, it was found the residual concentrations of 4-t-OP was lower than the detection limits. This suggests that the factors investigated had no effects on the associated residuals. For t-NPs, the residual concentrations ranges from N.D.~0.15 μg/mL.
As for the assessment of human exposures, the average daily intakes from food ingestion and the remaining concentrations used as the maximum values have been evaluated and determined in our works. Based on our evaluation, the intakes of NP, arsenic and lead from contaminated vegetables and tableware are all below the upper limit for human beings. However, exposures from other sources, such as other environments, are not considered in this research. In addition, the maximum dose of the exposures from hazardous components through the use of household food detergents in Taiwan was estimated in this study. The highest concentrations of the associated chemicals found from the tests on residual characteristics were adopted for the worst-case calculations, and were compared with the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) from WHO/FAO to assess the health risk.
Subjects
食品用洗潔劑
殘留分析
田口式方法
壬基苯酚類化合物
砷
鉛
SDGs
Type
thesis
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