A survey of trialkyl and triaryl phosphates in United Kingdom total diet samples

Composite total diet samples, representative of 15 different commodity types overall encompassing an average complete adult diet, from each of eight regions in the UK, were analysed for the presence of trialkyl- and triarylphosphates. The analytical method consisted of solvent extraction, size exclusion clean-up and determination of individual phosphates by gas chromatography using phosphorus specific detection (alkali flame or flame photometric detection). Of the food groups offal, other animal products and nuts consistently contained the highest levels of trialkyl/triaryl phosphates, but there was variation in the incidence of individual compounds between different groups. Total phosphate intake was estimated to be between 0.07 and 0.1 mg per person per day.