Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Dutch total diet samples (1984-1986)

Over a period of 2.5 yr, 221 different food items of a 'market basket' of 18-yr-old males were purchased every 3 months. In total, 10 market baskets were collected. The foodstuffs were prepared by normal methods and combined into 23 commodity groups. Homogenates were prepared from each commodity group, followed by analysis for 17 different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). All these compounds were detected. The most frequently occurring PAHs were benzo[b]fluoranthene, fluoranthene and benzo[k]fluoranthene, in 59, 48 and 46% of the samples, respectively. The highest concentration of a single PAH was 36 micrograms chrysene/kg in the commodity group 'sugar and sweets'. On the basis of concentrations found in the total diet samples the possible daily intakes of the various PAHs were calculated. The mean daily intake of the total PAH fraction analysed was between 5 micrograms/day (low estimate) and 17 micrograms/day (high estimate). The intake of the carcinogenic PAH fraction was roughly half these amounts. The largest contribution to the daily PAH intake came from sugar and sweets, cereals, oils, fats and nuts.