Perfluorinated alkylated substances in vegetables collected in four European countries; occurrence and human exposure estimations

Abstract

The human diet is recognised as one possible major exposure route to the overall perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) burden of the human population, resulting directly from contamination of dietary food items, as well as migration of PFAS from food packaging or cookware. Most European countries carry out national monitoring programs (food basket studies) to monitor contamination with pollutants. Usually, for PFASs, non-coordinated approaches are used in Europe, since food basket studies are mainly carried out by national authorities following national requirements and questions, making comparisons between different countries difficult. A harmonised sampling campaign collecting similar food items in a uniform procedure enabling direct comparison between different regions in Europe was designed. We selected four countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy and Norway), representing the four regions of Europe: West, East, South and North. In spring 2010 and 2011, 20 different types of vegetables were sampled in Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy and Norway. Perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) were the main group of detected PFASs, with perfluorinated octanoic acid (PFOA) as the most abundant PFCA (with exception of samples from Czech Republic), followed by perfluorinated hexanoic acid and perfluorinated nonanoic acid. Dietary intake estimates for PFOA show only low human exposure due to vegetable consumption for adults and children, mostly governed by high intake of potatoes.

Occurrence of perfluorinated alkylated substances in cereals, salt, sweets and fruit items collected in four European countries

“…The selection of food items was based on several equally important criteria described by Herzke et al (2013): (1) relevance of the intakes for the selected European area, (2) lack of data on PFAA concentrations in food, and (3) practicability of the sampling strategy according to human, instrumental and budgetary resources available within the PERFOOD project. For the PERFOOD project, food items representing 14 categories suggested by EFSA (EFSA, 2011a) were sampled.…”

“…The PFAA concentrations and the dietary intake estimation for such food items are presented in this work. Studies by Herzke et al (2013) and Hlouskova et al (2013) report the results for vegetables and food items of animal origin, respectively, and, together with a detailed exposure estimation study by Klenow et al (2013) describe the overall aims, sampling procedures and handlings within the PERFOOD project.…”

Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances through the consumption of fish from lakes affected by aqueous film-forming foam emissions — A combined epidemiological and exposure modeling approach. The SAMINOR 2 Clinical Study

“…However, an increasing number of studies have emphasized the importance of dietary intake as an exposure pathway Fromme et al, 2009;Harada and Koizumi, 2009;Vestergren et al, 2008). Seafood and freshwater fish have been identified as important contributors to dietary exposure to PFOS and long-chain PFCAs Berger et al, 2009;Fromme et al, 2009;Haug et al, 2010;Rylander et al, 2010), whereas a varied picture has been seen for other PFASs (Herzke et al, 2013;Vestergren et al, 2012). In addition, several biological factors play a role in the burden of PFASs in the body, including age, gender, reproductive factors, and compound specific toxicokinetics Denys et al, 2014;Harada and Koizumi, 2009;Haug et al, 2010;Lorber et al, 2015;Miralles-Marco and Harrad, 2015;Nost et al, 2014).…”

Accumulation and phytotoxicity of perfluorooctanoic acid in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana

“…The long environmental residence may also result in an increased cumulative transfer of PFOA from water and soil into plants (Blaine et al, 2014a;Herzke et al, 2013;Lechner and Knapp, 2011;Sepulvado et al, 2011;Yoo et al, 2011). A number of studies have shown that plants can take up PFOA from contaminated irrigation water (Blaine et al, 2014b;Felizeter et al, 2012).…”