Eleven phthalate esters and di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate in one-week duplicatediet samples obtained from hospitals and their estimated daily intake

Plasticizers in duplicate diet samples obtained over 1 week were analysed i n order to estimate daily intake. The phthalate esters were as follows: die thyl, dipropyl, dibutyl, dipentyl, dihexyl, butylbenzyl, dicyclohexyl, di( 2-ethylhexyl), dioctyl, diisooctyl (mixture of isomers) and diisononyl (mix ture). Di( 2-ethylhexyl) adipate was also determined. Homogenized samples o f composite meals were extracted with acetonitrile, lipids were removed by extraction into n-hexane and the acetonitrile layer was cleaned using Flori sil(R) and Bondesil PSA(R) dual layer column. Phthalates were determined by GC/MS (SIM). Phthalate recovery from the fortified food mixture by this me thod was 62.5-140.8%. Quality assurance as assessed by three laboratories i ndicated coefficient of variance in the levels of detected phthalates in sa me lot samples as below 10%. Detection limits were 0.1-23 ng/g for each pht halate. One-week duplicate diet samples provided by three hospitals in thre e remote prefectures of Japan were analysed as individual meals. In all 63 samples, DEHP was present at the highest level among all phthalates in the range 10-4400 ng/g. The intake of plasticizers estimated from all samples w as 519 mug DEHP/day, 86 mug DEHA/day, 65 mug DINP/day, and 4.7 mug BBP/day. Calculated DEHP in 2-day samples out of 21 days exceeded EU TDI for a pers on of 50 kg body weight (1850 mug per day). Disposable PVC gloves used duri ng the preparation of meals were suspected as the source of the high DEHP c ontent. One-day intake of the other phthalates and DEHA was below 7% of TDI in all cases. High concentrations of DEHP (5990 ng/g) was found in baby fo od used in quality assurance work. The source of contamination was the PVC- tube used during production and was effectively reduced by replacing the tu be by one made of stainless steel.