Risk Assessment of Benzoic Acid and Sorbic Acid in Foods for Thais

Abstract

Benzoic acid and sorbic acid are used widely as preservative in various foods in Thailand because of a high efficiency for anti-microbial agents and low toxicity. But they are found in high amounts in various foods and found in some foods that are not allowed to used. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of dietary benzoic acid and sorbic acid exposure in foods for Thai population. The results can be subsequently used to support the amendment of both Thai standard and international standards (CODEX) for benzoic acid and sorbic acid in food. The risk assessment was conducted in 2 steps: exposure data were obtained from the assessment of benzoic acid and sorbic acid quantity in foods and daily intake while the risk characterization was conducted by comparing the dietary exposure of benzoic acid and sorbic acid in food with the ADI values specified by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additive (JECFA). This study was conducted during 2012-2013, the total of 1,600 food samples including consumption data were collected from households (duplicate portion) in four regions of the country and were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that benzoic acid was found in 89.8% of total samples with 36.8 mg/kg mean value and 131.1 mg/kg at 97.5 percentile level. For sorbic acid, 12.0% of samples were detected with 2.1 mg/kg mean value and 20.7 mg/kg at 97.5 percentile level. Exposure assessment was calculated from data results of benzoic acid and sorbic acid with average the daily intake at 1,506 g/person/day. The results revealed that the mean dietary exposure of benzoic acid and sorbic acid of Thai consumers were 55.4 and 3.2 mg/person/day, equal to 20.5% and 0.2% of the ADI values, respectively; and at 97.5 percentile level would be exposed 93.3 and 5.32 mg/person/day, equal to 34.5% and 0.4% of the ADI values, respectively. This indicates that Thai consumers are still safe from benzoic acid and sorbic acid exposure. Mean dietary exposure of benzoic acid and sorbic acid were lower than ADI value specified by JECFA .