Exposure assessment and monitoring of formaldehyde in agricultural products for the general Korean population

Abstract

Formaldehyde is naturally present as a product of common metabolism in a diverse range of foods, including meat, fish, vegetables, and processed foods, and can also be introduced to food unintentionally due to its ubiquity in the environment. There has been increased interest in dietary exposure to formaldehyde because of its adverse health effects via multiple sources. The aim of this study was to evaluate the formaldehyde levels in various agricultural products and conduct a deterministic exposure assessment for the South Korean population. Formaldehyde levels were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography, with the samples extracted using water and then derivatized with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. The levels of formaldehyde were found to range from 0.006 to 25.6 µg/g in agricultural food products (n = 480). For the deterministic exposure assessment, multiple sources for point estimation were employed, with consumption data taken from the 2017 Korean Nutrition Survey. The mean daily formaldehyde exposure per each person was 127.5 µg for the South Korean, constituting approximately 1.4% of the tolerable daily intake (TDI). The hazard index (the ratio of the entire formaldehyde exposure to the TDI) normally fell within the range from 0.01 to 0.22 based on assumptions employed in the deterministic estimation of dietary intake. Based on these estimates, the exposure of the general South Korean to formaldehyde was considered to be safe. © The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology 2024.