Estimated Dietary Exposure of Canadians to Perchlorate through the Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables Available in Ottawa Markets

Abstract

There has been increasing concern over the contamination of drinking water and food with perchlorate. Studies have reported perchlorate in a variety of foods, including lettuce, milk, fruits, and juices. In this study, 150 food samples were analyzed by ion chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (IC-MS/MS) to determine the concentrations of perchlorate in imported and domestic fruits and vegetables available from retail outlets in Ottawa, Canada. Perchlorate was found in most of the tested food types with concentrations appearing to vary by commodity and country of origin. Levels ranged from nondetectable to 536 microg/kg, with Guatemalan cantaloupes (156 +/- 232 microg/kg), United States spinach (133 +/- 24.9 microg/kg), Chilean green grapes (45.5 +/- 13.3 microg/kg), and United States Romaine lettuce (29.1 +/- 10.5 microg/kg) having the highest concentrations. Dietary exposure to perchlorate from analyzed fruits and vegetables was estimated to be approximately 36.6 and 41.1 ng/kg bw/day for toddlers (1-4 yrs) and children (5-11yrs), respectively.

On the stability of perchlorate ions against reductive attacks in electrochemical systems and in the environment

“…However, the perchlorate problem is not located to the US only. This type of contamination constitutes a major problem in China [28][29][30] and many other countries in the world [31][32][33]. For example, in Israel, an ammonium-perchlorate manufacturing plant that had been disposing untreated wastewater in four unlined ponds for 25 years caused extensive perchlorate contamination in the underlying aquifer.…”

Monitoring of perchlorate in diverse foods and its estimated dietary exposure for Korea populations

“…Krynitsky et al [13] calculated perchlorate in lettuce, cantaloupe, bottled water, and milk (<1.0-53.8 ppb, g/kg for lettuce and cantaloupe, g/L for bottled water and milk), and Sanchez et al [14] analyzed 21 kinds of leafy vegetables (18.0-628 g/kg). Wang et al [15] have estimated the dietary exposure of Canadians to perchlorate through the consumption of 10 kinds of samples belonging to fruits and vegetables. Recently, except milk and vegetables, different foods like rice, beverage bottled water, dietary supplements and flavor enhancing ingredients were monitored to find the perchlorate levels in these samples [16][17][18][19][20].…”

Occurrence and exposure evaluation of perchlorate in indoor dust and diverse food from Chengdu, China

“…Previous studies indicated that leafy plants could accumulate perchlorate from contaminated soil or irrigation water Sanchez et al, 2005;Voogt and Jackson, 2010). A number of investigations suggested that perchlorate exists in diverse food from the U.S. (Murray et al, 2008;Huber et al, 2010), Canada (Wang et al, 2009), and Korea (Lee et al, 2012), including vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meats, fishes, and eggs, at concentrations up to 536 ng/g ww (wet weight) with the detection rate around 60%. Based on the total diet study and biomonitoring data, Huber et al (2010) suggested that food is the predominant exposure way to the U.S. people.…”