Occurrence of bisphenols and contribution of edibles liquids conditioned in plastic packaging to the dietary exposure in Cameroon

Abstract

Bisphenols are known to be endocrine disruptors. They are ubiquitous in the environment and also in plastic materials such as those used in food packaging. They can lead to the contamination of food in contact with environmental products or plastic packaging. In Africa, there a few studies on the assessment of the amount of bisphenols in foods; hence, most African countries do not have policies guiding on their utilization. The present work is aimed at assessing bisphenol levels in sachet water, bagged whisky, crude palm oil and traditional alcoholic beverages of Cameroon, in Central Africa. A sensitive method based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of bisphenol A, B and F (BPA, BPB and BPF). This method showed that recoveries were from 72 to 120% and the limits of quantification for BPA, BFB and BPF from aqueous samples were 0.09, 0.10, and 0.09 µg L−1 respectively. Estimation of the contribution to dietary exposure of BPA from these matrices were lower than temporary Tolerable Daily Intake (t-TDI) (4 µg/kg of body weight/day) defined by The European food safety authority (EFSA). One brand of sachet water contained BPF at 14.5 ± 1.1 µg L−1.