Occurrence of chloropropanols in soy sauce and other foods in China between 2002 and 2004.

Department of Chemical Contaminants Monitoring, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Beijing 100070, China.

A survey of chloropropanols in soy sauce and some selected foods in China is reported. Thirty-seven traditionally brewed soy sauce samples contained 3-MCPD below the EC maximum limit (ML) of 0.02 mg kg(-1). All soy sauce samples (629) from retailers contained levels of 3-MCPD ranging between <0.005 (LOQ) and 189 mg kg(-1), and only 12.2% had levels in excess of the Chinese ML of 1.0 mg kg(-1) for acid hydrolyzed vegetable protein (acid HVP). This indicates that the necessary processing changes have been made to decrease levels of chloropropanols in soy sauce. 2-Monochloropropane-1,3-diol (2-MCPD), 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol (1,3-DCP) and 2,3-dichloro-1-propanol (2,3-DCP) were detected in 48.1 19.1 and 3.78% of the soy sauce samples, respectively; the highest levels being 20.3, 8.26 and 0.50 mg kg(-1), respectively. A good linear correlation was found between the amount of 3-MCPD and 2-MCPD, with the level of 3-MCPD being generally higher than that of other chloropropanols for the same soy sauce. Acid HVP contained 3-MCPD at a level of 0.010-117.7 mg kg(-1) (on a liquid basis) and 80% of samples contained levels exceeding 1.0 mg kg(-1). In some other foods investigated, relatively high levels of 3-MCPD were found in soy sauce powder, oyster sauce, beef products, instant noodle spices and health foods, ranging from 0.029 to 13.64 mg kg(-1). It is concluded that abnormal levels of 3-MCPD in soy sauce or other foods produced in China may result from acid hydrolysis or the addition of the contaminated acid HVP.

PMID: 17613068 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]