Meehye Kim

Dietary assessment of human exposure to PBDEs in South Korea

This study was conducted to measure the concentration of PBDEs in various food stuffs from Korea and to estimate levels of PBDE intake from food for the Korean population according to geographical location and age. 20 types of food samples were collected from four heavily populated cities (Seoul, Gwangju, Daejeon, Pusan) and one rural city (Gangneung) and were analyzed for 19 polybrominated diphenyl ether congeners (BDE 15, 17, 28, 33, 47, 49, 66, 71, 85, 99, 100, 119, 126, 138, 153, 154, 183, and 209). No significant differences in total PBDE levels in foods were found among four large cities (Gwangju; 10.91 ng g(-1) wet weight (ww), Seoul; 7.66 ng g(-1)ww, Daejeon; 6.91 ng g(-1)ww, Pusan; 6.87 ng g(-1)ww) and one rural city (Gangneung; 8.72 ng g(-1)ww). Daily dietary intake of PBDEs does not appear to be related to the extent of urbanization. Total dietary intake of PBDE for the average general population was 72.30 ng d(-1) (not detected (ND)=0) which was similar to other countries. In all food groups, the largest contribution to PBDE intake was from fish and shellfish (48.96 ng d(-1)). Total PBDE consumed per kilogram of body weight was estimated to range from 2.70 ng kg(-1)d(-1) for infants 1 through 2 years of age to 0.85 ng kg(-1)d for 65 years and older and was highest in young children and decreased with increasing age.

Assessment of the daily intake of 62 polychlorinated biphenyls from dietary exposure in South Korea.

The dietary intake of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was estimated using the sum of 62 PCB congeners (∑(62)PCBs), including seven indicator PCBs and 12 dioxin-like PCBs, in the South Korea. In this study, 200 individual food samples belonging to 40 different foodstuffs were investigated to estimate the distribution of PCB congeners in five sampling cities. PCB exposure was estimated using Korean dietary habits as established by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The PCB concentrations in rice, the most frequently consumed food in Korea, was relatively low in whole food samples. The mean PCB levels measured in fish were the highest in this study, but each fish is consumed in relatively small amounts by the general population. Therefore, the daily dietary intake should also be considered with regard to human exposure to PCBs, especially with the consumption of contaminated foods. Dioxin-like PCB levels were also calculated using TEF values that were established in 2005. The average levels (pg TEQ/g) were 0.0002 for rice and 0.0098 for fish. The dioxin-like PCBs accounted for a relatively small percentage of the total PCBs, compared to previous studies. According to our research, the health risks associated with exposure to PCBs could be estimated using the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of the general population.

Risk Assessment of Arsenic in Agricultural Products

The present study was carried out to assess exposure & risk for Korean by total and inorganic As intake through agricultural products. Total arsenic analysis was performed using microwave device and ICP-MS. 50% MeOH extraction and anion-exchange HPLC-ICP-MS method has been used to determine arsenic species. 329 samples covering 20 kinds of agricultural products were collected from various retail outlets and markets across Korea. The concentration of total As was in the range of 0.001~0.718 mg/kg, while inorganic and organic arsenic species in all samples was not determined. For risk assessment, probable daily intake was calculated and compared with provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI, 15 /kg b.w./week for inorganic arsenic) established by JECFA. The median daily exposure to total and inorganic As by intake of agricultural products except rice was ranged 0.0002~0.012, 0.0001~0.001 /kg b.w./day, corresponding to 0.01~0.5%, 0.002~0.1% of PTWI, respectively. The median level of total and inorganic As intake through rice was 0.603 and 0.041 /kg b.w./day, and 28.1% and 1.9% of PTWI, respectively. Therefore, the level of overall exposure to arsenic for Korean through agricultural products was below the recommended JECFA levels, indicating of least possibility of risk.

The Study on the Analysis Method of Tetrodotoxin in Puffer Fish

The current standard for testing tetrodotoxin (TTX) in foodstuffs is the mouse bioassay (MBA) in Korea as in many other countries. However, this test suffers from potential ethical concerns over the use of live ani- mals. In addition, the mouse bioassay does not test for a specific toxin thus a sample resulting in mouse incapacitation would need further confirmatory testing to determine the exact source toxin (e.g., TTX, STX, brevotoxin, etc.). Fur- thermore, though the time of death is proportional to toxicity in this assay, the dynamic range for this proportional relationship is small thus many samples must be diluted and new mice be injected to yield a result that falls within the quantitative dynamic range. Therefore, in recent years, there have been many efforts in this field to develop alternative assays. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) has been emerged as one of the most promising options. A LC-MS-MS method involves solid-phase extraction (SPE) and followed by analysis using an electrospray in the positive ionization mode and multiple reactions monitoring (MRM). To adopt LC-MS-MS method as alternative standard for testing TTX, we performed a validation study for the quantification of TTX in puffer fish. This LC-MS-MS method showed good sensitivity as limits of detection (LOD) of 0.03~0.08 µg/g and limits of quantification (LOQ) of 0.10~0.25 µg/g. The linearity (r 2 ) of tetrodotoxin were 0.9986~0.9997, the recovery were 80.9~103.0% and the relative standard deviations (RSD) were 4.3~13.0%. The correlation coefficient between the mouse bioassay and LC/MS/MS method was higher than 0.95.

Exposure assessment of dioxins through foods

A total 221 samples of the retailed foods collected from 2004 to 2007 was examined to estimate the level of dioxins(29 congeners) by the isotopic dilution method, and the exposure of population of Korean to dietary of dioxins was performed. Dioxins levels were calculated using TEF values established in 1998 and 2005, respectively. The average levels (pg TEQ/g) were less than 0.01 for polished rice, 0.04 (poultry)-0.13 (beef) for meats, 0.04 (milk)-0.05(cheese) for milk and dairy products, 0.13 for egg (york, only) and 0.11 (alaska pollack)-1.35 (pacific mackerel) for fishes. The estimated daily intake of Korean through foods was 0.47 pg TEQ/kg bw/day, and it was estimated as about 11% to tolerable daily intake (TDI; 4 pg TEQ/kg bw/day) of Korea and Japan. Consequently, it was concluded that there was no health risk.

Risk Assessment of Polychrorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) through Food Intake for the Korean Population

Department of Industrial Chemistry SangMyung UniversityAbstract Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been studied during the past few decades because of their potentialimpacts on the environment and human health. PCBs are toxic environmental pollutants and persistent organic pollutants(POPs). This study was carried out to assess the dietary exposure and risk to PCBs for the general Korean populationthrough food intake. Various samples (n=389) covering 28 kinds of food were collected from 5 cities in Korea. The PCBcontent was not detected-182.4 µg/kg (mean of 5.4 µg/kg) in the food. The mean dietary exposure of PCBs for the generalpopulation was 9.54 ng/kg bw/day with an intake of 0.19% of tolerable daily intake (TDI) (5 µg/kg bw/day). Therefore,the level of overall dietary exposure to PCBs for the Korean population through food intake is below the recommendedTDI levels.Keywords: PCBs, food, risk assessment

Risk Assessment of Arsenic and Mercury in Mushrooms

The present study was carried out to assess the dietary exposure and the risk for arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) through mushrooms intake. Various samples (n

Distribution and exposure assessment of indicator PCBs in Food

Seven indicator PCBs (IUPAC nos 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, 180 congeners) concentrations were measured in food samples including cereal (polished rice), meats, eggs, milk and dairy products, and fisheries and products as representation for the general Korean populations during 2006-2007, and was analyzed using isotopic dilution method. Fishes had the highest average level as 39.8 ng/g, 1.4 ng/g for milk and dairy products, and 0.9 ng/g for meats. The hairtail out of fishes was contaminated at the level of 15.4 ng/g, 5.4 ng/g for pacific mackerel and spanish mackerel, and 4.5 ng/g for yellow croaker. The ratio for indicator PCBs in overall food was contributed as follows; 35.8% for PCB-153, 16.2% for PCB-138, 16.1% for PCB-101, 13.4% for PCB-118, 8.8% for PCB-180, 6.9% for PCB-52, and 2.9% for PCB-28. The hexa-CBs including PCB-153 and 138 were more predominated, and the next was penta-CBs including PCB-101 and 118 in food. For estimated daily intake (EDI) in average and 95 th percentile, fishes and products out of overall food were taken to represent over 50%. However, it was estimated that there was no adverse health effect for Korean.