Survey of Some Market Basket Commodities for Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbon Content

Abstract

The Food and Drug Administration multicomponent regulatory procedure for determining polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in foods was recently used to survey 24 foodstuffs for the presence of these compounds. The procedure has a reliable limit of quantitation of 2 ppb. The potent carcinogen benzo (a) pyrene was detected in only one of the 24 products analyzed, at a level of 3 ppb. Pyrene and/or fluoranthene were found in 19 of the 24 samples examined, at levels ranging from less than 1 ppb to about 75 ppb. A comparison of the recent survey data to that obtained approximately 10 years ago reveals that the types and levels of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons found are essentially unchanged.