Discovery and occurrence of organophosphorothioate esters in food contact plastics and foodstuffs from South China: Dietary intake assessment

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2024-01, Vol.906, p.167447-167447, Article 167447
• Main Authors: Chen, Yanhao, Xiao, Qinru, Su, Zhanpeng, Yuan, Guanxiang, Ma, Haojia, Lu, Shaoyou, Wang, Lei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Exposure risk; Food safety; Identification; Nontarget screening; Organophosphate esters
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167447

A recent study revealed the presence of non-pesticide organothiophosphate esters (OTPEs) — precursors to organophosphate esters (OPEs) contaminants — in river water. Since OPEs have demonstrated adverse reproductive outcomes in humans, this accentuates the urgency to explore the prevalence of non-pesticide OTPEs in other potential human exposure matrices. In this study, a nontarget screening method based on high-resolution mass spectrometry was used to identify OTPEs in food contact plastic (FCP) samples collected from South China. O,O,O-triphenyl phosphorothioate (TPhPt) and O,O,O-tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl) phosphorothioate (AO168 = S) were unequivocally identified (Level 1), while O,O-di(di-butylphenyl) O-methyl phosphorothioate (BDBPMPt) was tentatively identified (Level 2b, indicating probable structure based on diagnostic evidence). Among n = 70 FCP samples, AO168 = S emerged with the highest detection frequency and median concentration of 74 % and 111 ng/g, respectively. Significant Pearson correlations were observed in log-transformed peak areas of AO168 = S and TPhPt in FCPs with their respective oxons, respectively. Occurrences of AO168 = S and TPhPt were further investigated in n = 100 foodstuff samples using a market basket method. AO168 = S and TPhPt exhibited detection frequencies of 43 % and 44 % in all food items with mean concentrations of 2.17 ng/g wet weight (ww) (range: