Quantification of polychlorinated alkanes in French market foodstuffs utilizing recent advances in liquid chromatography and gas chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry

Dietary intake has been highlighted as the main route of human exposure to polychlorinated n-alkanes (PCAs). In this study, we investigated the dietary exposure of the French population to PCAs by analysing 34 vegetable oil and margarine samples as well as in 50 foods of animal origin, often reported as the most contaminated food items in the human diet. Levels were determined using both LC/ESI-HRMS and GC/ECNI-HRMS couplings, for further comparison. For vegetable oil samples, precisions, trueness and uncertainties were < 15 %, ≤22 % and 7-25 %, respectively. For foods of animal origin, higher variability was observed between short- and medium-chain PCAs, as well as between instruments. Average estimated daily intakes were 7.9 and 100 ng per kg of body weight per day for ∑PCAs-C₁₀_-₁₃ and ∑PCAs-C₁₄_-₁₇, respectively. Preliminary risk characterisation indicated no health concern for the considered food categories as regards ∑PCAs-C₁₀_-₁₃ and ∑PCAs-C₁₄_-₁₇.