Suchergebnisse

For food regulation in the European Union maximum limits on other foods than tea and coffee includes benzo[a]pyrene and the sum of PAH4 (sum of benzo[a]pyrene, chrysene, benz[a]anthracene and benzo[b]fluoranthene). This study includes analysis of the above mentioned PAH in both, tea leaves, coffee beans and ready-to-drink preparations. Compared to other food matrices (e.g. fish), the analytical methods were challenged by the hot water extracts. Preparation of tea includes roasting and drying of the tea leaves using combustion gases from burning wood, oil, or coal. These are responsible for accumulation of PAH in tea leaves. Different varieties of tea leaves were analyzed and highest concentrations were found in leaves from mate and black tea with maximum concentrations of 32 μg/kg for benzo[a]pyrene and 115 μg/kg for the sum of PAH4. Also, coffee beans are roasted during processing. However, both benzo[a]pyrene and PAH4 concentrations were more than ten times lower for coffee beans than for tea leaves. Highest levels were found for PAH4 of solid instant coffee (5.1 μg/kg). Data were used to calculate the exposure of benzo[a]pyrene (15%) and sum of PAH4 (10%) from tea and coffee for the Danish population.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are released into the atmosphere may have health consequences that can be compounded by their nitro‐PAH atmospheric transformation products. The available literature suggests that some of the atmospheric nitro‐PAH daughter products may increase the overall environmental health risk associated with PAHs. Therefore, an important issue is whether there is merit in considering atmospheric transformation products of air toxins when conducting environmental health‐risk analyses. To illustrate the above issue, a comparative analysis of the potential risk that may be imposed by PAHs and their daughter products was carried out for the Los Angeles Basin. The analysis consisted of first assessing the multimedia environmental concentration of selected PAHs and nitro‐PAHs using a spatial‐compartmental modeling approach coupled with available monitoring data. Multimedia concentrations were then used to estimate chemical media‐specific mutagenic densities as well as average daily intake from multiple pathways, followed by cancer risk for the known carcinogens among the study chemicals. The analysis revealed that mutagenic densities of the nitro‐PAH daughter products can significantly exceed those of the parent PAHs. The results of this study suggest that there is merit in further investigation of the potential contribution of nitro‐PAHs to the overall environmental health risk associated with airborne PAHs.