Chlorinated paraffins leaking from hand blenders can lead to significant human exposures

Abstract

Background: Chlorinated paraffins (CPs, polychlorinated n-alkanes) are versatile, high-production-volume chemicals. A previous study indicated that hand blenders leak CPs into prepared food.

Objectives: (1) to estimate exposure to CPs from hand blender use compared to background CP exposure from diet; (2) to assess the risk from human dietary exposure to CPs from hand blender use; (3) to investigate how hand blenders leak out CPs.

Methods: CPs were analyzed in food market baskets, in cooking oil/water samples (1g oil/100mL water) mixed using 16 different hand blenders, and in dismantled components of the hand blenders.

Results: Dietary intake of CPs from food market baskets was calculated to be 4.6μg/day per capita for Swedish adults. Total CP amounts in oil/water leakage samples ranged from <0.09 to 120μg using the hand blenders once. CP leakage showed no decreasing levels after 20 times of hand blender usage. CP profiles in the leakage samples matched those of self-lubricating bearings and/or polymer components disassembled from the hand blenders.

Conclusions: Usage of 75% of the hand blenders tested will lead to increased human exposure to CPs. The intake of CPs for Swedish adults by using hand blenders once a day can raise their daily dietary intake by a factor of up to 26. The 95th percentile intake of CPs via using the hand blenders once a day exceeded the TDI for Swedish infants with a body weight <7.2kg. CP leakage came from blender components which contain CPs. The leakage may last several hundred times of hand blender use.

Keywords: Chlorinated paraffins; Dietary exposure; Hand blender; Leakage; Sweden.