Dietary exposure assessment of dibutyl phthalate in edible vegetable oil in Shanghai

Objective This paper aim to investigate dibutyl phthalate (DBP) concentration level in edible vegetable oil sold in Shanghai, and to evaluate the dietary exposure risk of local residents. Methods By combining monitoring data of DBP in edible vegetable oil sold in Shanghai from 2015 to 2019 with the dietary consumption data of residents, the dietary exposure of DBP in edible vegetable oil was assessed via point assessment method. Results A total of 1 248 DBP samples in edible vegetable oil were tested from 2015 to 2019, the overall unqualified rate was 3.4% (43/1 248), and the mean concentration was (0.34±2.15) mg/kg. According to the annual statistics, the unqualified rate showed an upward trend of fluctuation and reached 4.4% (13/295) in 2019. According to the statistics of edible vegetable oil varieties, DBP contamination levels in walnut oil, sesame oil and rapeseed oil were relatively serious, with the unqualified rate of 28.6% (6/21), 10.5% (20/190) and 9.2% (8/87), respectively. The mean and 97.5 percentile daily DBP intake from edible vegetable oil in general population were 0.23 and 0.40 μg/kg BW, accounting for 2.3% and 4.0% of tolerable daily intake (TDI, 10 μg/kg BW), respectively. Conclusion The health risk of DBP intake from edible vegetable oil was relatively low and acceptable for Shanghai residents