Transport of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) from baking oven doors into the food

Jannik Sprengel; Stefanie Rixen; Oliver Kappenstein; Walter Vetter

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100122

Transport of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) from baking oven doors into the food

Food Chem X. 2021 Jun 12:10:100122. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2021.100122. eCollection 2021 Jun 30.

Authors

Jannik Sprengel¹, Stefanie Rixen¹, Oliver Kappenstein², Walter Vetter¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstr. 28, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany.
² German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Max-Dohrn-Str. 8-10, D-10589 Berlin, Germany.

Abstract

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) have been repeatedly detected in the kitchen environment. Especially baking ovens were contaminated with high CP amounts on the insides of the doors. To investigate if CPs could be transferred into baked food, we spiked self-synthesized single chain C₁₂-CP and C₁₅-CP standards onto the inside door of an unused, CP-free baking oven. Experiments were performed under different conditions to assess possible CP transportation pathways. Coconut fat was used as food simulant, the exhaust air was monitored with cellulose filter paper and remaining CPs were collected via cotton wipes. In all experiments, both C₁₂- and C₁₅-CPs could be identified in both the food simulant and the cellulose samplers. Mean transfer rates into the food simulant amounted to 2.2% for C₁₂-CPs and 5.8% for C₁₅-CPs. Baking of food in CP-containing baking ovens may perceptibly increase the CP intake of consumers.

Keywords: Baking oven; CP transfer; Food contamination; Polychlorinated n-alkanes; SCCPs, MCCPs.