Assessing the public health risk of bisphenol A migration from canned alcoholic beverages in Nigeria

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely used industrial chemical which has found applications in the manufacture of epoxy resins and polycarbonate plastics. It has however, gained significant health-focused attention as a results of its role as a potential endocrine disruptor. The primary route of BPA to humans is through dietary ingestion, as a result of migration from food packaging materials. This migration has been reported to be influenced by conditions such as storage duration and temperature. Considering the widespread consumption of canned alcoholic beverages in Nigeria, and the availability of limited data on BPA contamination in these product, this study aimed to assess the health risk associated with BPA contamination in these products. This study examined two popular alcoholic beverage brands marketed in Nigeria, and assessed the effect of three different storage temperatures (4, 30 and 40 °C) and four exposure durations (3, 7, 15, and 30 days). BPA concentrations in these samples were assessed using GC-FID, and human health risk assessment was performed by calculating the chronic daily intake (CDI), and the hazard quotient (HQ). The result showed that the migration of BPA from the packaging material into the alcoholic beverages was significantly influenced by both temperature and duration, with prolonged outdoor exposure leading to the highest BPA contamination level. The human health risk assessment revealed CDI levels that mostly exceeded the recommended reference dose of 0.0002 µg/kg/day in most of the studied conditions. The HQ was observed to be greater than 1 in most experimental conditions as well, indicating a potential for non-cancer health risks. These findings highlight a public concern regarding the consumption of canned alcoholic beverages in Nigeria and emphasize the need for regulatory bodies to establish and enforce guidelines for BPA in food packaging materials.