For the first time, the exposure of swimmers and workers to haloacetic acids (HAAs) in indoor and outdoor pools was evaluated through the analysis of urine samples. The subjects of this study, 49 volunteers, were male and female workers as well as swimmers (adults and children) who regularly attended an indoor pool (January-June) and an outdoor one (July and August). The results showed that HAAs appeared 20-30 min after exposure and were eliminated within 3 h. After 2 h exposure, urine samples taken from workers contained dichloroacetic (DCAA) and trichloroacetic (TCAA) acids at ~300 and ~120 ng/L levels since HAAs were aerosolized in the indoor ambient, whereas only DCAA was found in some workers' urine samples from the outdoor pool but at ~50 ng/L levels, despite the fact that the outdoor pools generally had somewhat higher levels of HAAs than the indoor pools. After 1 h swimming TCAA, DCAA and MCAA were present at concentrations of ~4400, ~2300, and ~560 ng/L, respectively, in the swimmers' urine in the indoor pool; similar results were obtained from the swimmers in the outdoor pool due to accidental ingestion. Finally, exposure estimates indicate that ingestion is the major route of exposure (~94%), followed by inhalation (~5%) and dermal contribution (~1%).

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Chlorine solutions are usually used to sanitize fruit and vegetables in the fresh-cut industry due to their efficacy, low cost, and simple use. However, disinfection byproducts such as haloacetic acids (HAAs) can be formed during this process, which can remain on minimally processed vegetables (MPVs). These compounds are toxic and/or carcinogenic and have been associated with human health risks; therefore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a maximum contaminant level for five HAAs at 60 μg/L in drinking water. This paper describes the first method to determine the nine HAAs that can be present in MPV samples, with static headspace coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry where the leaching and derivatization of the HAAs are carried out in a single step. The proposed method is sensitive, with limits of detection between 0.1 and 2.4 μg/kg and an average relative standard deviation of ∼8%. From the samples analyzed, we can conclude that about 23% of them contain at least two HAAs (<0.4-24 μg/kg), which showed that these compounds are formed during washing and then remain on the final product.