ObjectiveTo ascertain the perchlorate contamination level in commercial foods and health risks so as to provide reference for perchlorate standard formulation and risk management.

MethodsPerchlorate risk survey was done on commercial foods in Shanghai; in combination with the survey results of residents' food consumption, the exposure assessment on the presence of perchlorate in commercial food was performed by probability assessment approach.

ResultsA total of 80 food samples from 8 food categories were analyzed, including grain, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat, eggs, aquatic products and tea and perchlorate detection rate was 78.8% with a mean value as 13.0±26.4 μg/kg. The highest mean value of perchlorates was 59.0±51.9 μg/kg in tea, and the lowest mean value was 3.4±2.3 μg/kg in fruits. With protection of human life and health as the maximum principle (there were supposed to be no losses of perchlorate during food processing), it was found that the estimated average dietary intake of perchlorate from the 8 food categories was 0.25 μg/kg(bw). However, the 95 percentile exposure estimates reached up to 0.44 μg/kg(bw), which exceeded the tolerable daily intake value of 0.3 μg/kgbw established by European Food Safety Authority for healthy adults. Therefore, potential health risk may exist to certain groups of people.

ConclusionDue to its high water-solubility, degradation of perchlorate in food processing probably occurs to certain extent. Therefore, there is need to carry out further actual exposure study.