Assessment of human exposure to benzene through foods from the Belgian market |
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Authors: | Medeiros Vinci Raquel Jacxsens Liesbeth Van Loco Joris Matsiko Eric Lachat Carl de Schaetzen Thibault Canfyn Michael Van Overmeire Ilse Kolsteren Patrick De Meulenaer Bruno |
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Institution: | a Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium b Food2Know, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium c Food, Medicines and Consumer Safety, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Rue Juliette Wytsmanstraat 14, 1050 Brussels, Belgium d Nutrition and Child Health Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium |
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Abstract: | Benzene is a volatile organic compound known to be carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) and may be present in food. In the present study, 455 food samples from the Belgian market were analyzed for benzene contents and some possible sources of its occurrence in the foodstuffs were evaluated. Benzene was found above the level of detection in 58% of analyzed samples with the highest contents found in processed foods such as smoked and canned fish, and foods which contained these as ingredients (up to 76.21 μg kg−1). Unprocessed foods such as raw meat, fish, and eggs contained much lower concentrations of benzene. Using the benzene concentrations in food, a quantitative dietary exposure assessment of benzene intake was conducted on a national representative sample of the Belgian population over 15 years of age. The mean benzene intake for all foods was 0.020 μg kg bw d−1 according to a probabilistic analysis. These values are below the minimum risk level for oral chronic exposure to benzene (0.5 μg kg bw d−1). |
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Keywords: | Benzene Food Exposure assessment Probabilistic analysis Monte Carlo simulation |
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