Tp. Mcneal et al., SURVEY OF BENZENE IN FOODS BY USING HEADSPACE CONCENTRATION TECHNIQUES AND CAPILLARY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY, Journal of AOAC International, 76(6), 1993, pp. 1213-1219
Recently, the combination of sodium or potassium benzoate with ascorbi
c acid was shown to produce low levels (ng/g) of benzene in fruit-flav
ored soft drinks. The presence of benzene also was reported in butter,
eggs, meat, and certain fruits; levels of these findings ranged from
0.5 ng/g in buffer to 500-1900 ng/g in eggs. Because benzoates are wid
ely used as food preservatives, a limited survey of other foods contai
ning added benzoate salts was conducted to investigate the potential f
or benzene formation. Selected foods that did not contain added benzoa
tes but were previously reported to contain benzene were analyzed for
comparison. More than 50 foods were analyzed by purge-and-trap or stat
ic headspace concentration and capillary gas chromatography. Benzene w
as quantitated by using the method of standard additions, and its iden
tity was confirmed by mass selective detection. Results of this limite
d survey show that foods without added benzoates (including eggs) cont
ained benzene at levels equal to or less than 2 ng/g. Slightly higher
levels were present in some foods and beverages containing both ascorb
ic acid and sodium benzoate.