Determination, exposure and risk assessment of PAHs in natural vitamin E isolated from vegetable oil industry

Natural vitamin E, which is mainly extracted from vegetable oil deodoriser distillate (VODD), is likely contaminated by carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A total of 26 commercial vitamin E products from six countries were investigated for 16 EPA PAHs using QuEChERS combined with gas chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-QQQ-MS). The concentrations of total PAHs in the samples ranged from 46.5 μg kg−1 to 215 μg kg−1, while the concentrations of PAH4 (BaA, Chr, BbF and BaP) ranged from 4.43 μg kg−1 to 20.1 μg kg−1. Risk assessment indicates that maximum intake of PAHs is 0.2 mg day−1, which is less than the LD50 and no observed adverse effect levels (NOAEL) of PAHs. However, chronic carcinogenicity of PAHs needs to be considered. The results suggested that PAH concentrations as well as toxicity equivalent should be considered as important indicator of risk of vitamin E products.