Li Xiaomin, Yin Yuhan, Zhou Wei, Li Hongting, Hu Boyuan, Cui Yajing, Zhou Ruoxian, Wang Peilong, Fu Jianjie
Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-Products, The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100081, China.
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Environ Health (Wash). 2023 Dec 5;2(1):52-61. doi: 10.1021/envhealth.3c00150. eCollection 2024 Jan 19.
The self-heating lunch box (SHLB) is a kind of popular instant food in China, yet little is known about the associated chemical release risk during its heating process. In this study, we investigated organophosphate esters (OPEs) in original unheated food (UF), SHLB-heated processed food (HF) and potential OPE release from SHLB packaging materials. Significantly higher concentrations of OPEs were observed in HF (267 ± 246 ng/g dry weight (dw)) than in UF (163 ± 211 ng/g dw) ( < 0.001), suggesting an introduction of additional OPEs during heating processes. Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, triethyl phosphate, and tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate exhibited the highest absolute increased amounts, with 137, 48.8, and 149% growth in HF than in UF, respectively. Migration testing revealed that packaging materials were rich in OPEs and can release considerable OPEs into food simulates (range, 14.7-90.8 ng/g; mean, 47.9 ± 21.8). Influencing factors (temperature, contact time, oily food) on OPE migration from packaging materials to food were assessed. Higher temperature and longer contact time increased OPE contents in food simulates. Moreover, the presence of abundant OPEs in UF and significant correlations among different OPEs ( < 0.05) suggested contamination happened during food processing and storage. With one SHLB meal a day, a 12-fold increase of OPE intake was observed for humans compared to those following a traditional dietary habit. In the high-exposure (95th percentile) scenario, hazard quotients of nine OPEs ranged from 0.00005 to 0.05. Our results suggested that the SHLB exposure pathway of OPEs should be particularly paid attention to in specific subpopulations that prefer this dietary habit.
自热饭盒（SHLB）是中国一种受欢迎的即食食品，但人们对其加热过程中相关的化学物质释放风险知之甚少。在本研究中，我们调查了未加热的原始食品（UF）、自热饭盒加热后的加工食品（HF）中的有机磷酸酯（OPEs）以及自热饭盒包装材料中潜在的OPEs释放情况。结果发现，HF中OPEs的浓度（267±246纳克/克干重（dw））显著高于UF（163±211纳克/克dw）（<0.001），这表明在加热过程中引入了额外的OPEs。磷酸三（2-氯乙基）酯、磷酸三乙酯和磷酸三（2-氯异丙基）酯的绝对增加量最高，HF中的含量分别比UF增长了137%、48.8%和149%。迁移测试表明，包装材料中富含OPEs，并且可以向食品模拟物中释放大量的OPEs（范围为14.7 - 90.8纳克/克；平均值为47.9±21.8）。评估了影响OPEs从包装材料迁移到食品中的因素（温度、接触时间、油性食品）。较高的温度和较长的接触时间会增加食品模拟物中OPEs的含量。此外，UF中存在大量的OPEs以及不同OPEs之间存在显著相关性（<0.05），这表明在食品加工和储存过程中发生了污染。与传统饮食习惯的人相比，每天食用一顿自热饭盒餐的人，其OPEs摄入量增加了12倍。在高暴露（第95百分位数）情况下，9种OPEs的危害商数范围为0.00005至0.05。我们的研究结果表明，对于偏爱这种饮食习惯的特定亚人群，应特别关注自热饭盒中OPEs的暴露途径。
