Bisphenol A in Baby Food Products in Glass Jars with Metal Lids from Canadian Markets

Abstract

A method based on solid phase extraction and derivatization with acetic anhydride followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was validated for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby foods. The average method detection limit (MDL) was 0.18 ng/g for a 5 g sample. Method repeatability was demonstrated with the replicate analyses of various different types of baby foods; relative standard deviations (RSD) ranged from 1.2 to 16.1% with an average of 8.7%. Extraction recoveries ranged from 93.5 to 102.5% for different types of baby foods spiked at levels of 1-8 ng/g. This method was used to analyze 122 baby food products of 7 brands in glass jars with metal lids for BPA. The presence of BPA could not be confirmed and quantified for 23 of the 122 products due to interference from sample matrices. For the other 99 products, 15% had BPA levels of less than the average MDL, about 70% had BPA levels of less than 1 ng/g, and the average BPA levels in all 99 products was 1.1 ng/g. The average BPA level in the baby food products from brand E (3.9 ng/g) is higher than the average BPA levels in the products from the other brands (0.54-1.1 ng/g). The highest level of BPA, 7.2 ng/g, was found in two products from brand E as well. The average BPA level in the fruit products from all brands (0.60 ng/g) is lower than those in the mixed-dish products (1.1 ng/g) and the vegetable products (1.2 ng/g).