Residues determination and dietary exposure to ethoxyquin and ethoxyquin dimer in farmed aquatic animals in South Korea

Abstract

We aimed to estimate the dietary exposure level of ethoxyquin (EQ) and its main metabolite ethoxyquin dimer (EQDM) in 6 kinds of farmed aquatic animals based on the residues and aquatic animal consumption data from Korea. The residues were measured in 143 aquatic animal samples by LC-MS/MS. The dietary exposure level was estimated under four scenarios based on the WHO guidelines. The residue concentrations of EQ and EQDM were in the ranges of 0.14–24.2 and 0.1–315 μg/kg, respectively. The sum of aquatic animal consumption for six aquatic animals was 6.38 g/day (whole group) and 372 g/day (consumer only) in the national food consumption survey. Based on our results, there is no significant risk resulting from EQ and EQDM exposure of humans under all scenarios. This is the first study to present the residue concentrations and exposure levels of EQ and EQDM in farmed aquatic animals in Korea.