Determination of Bisphenol a in Plastic-Packaged Foods by Liquid Chromatography Coupled With Fluorescent Detection

Abstract

Bisphenol A is a synthetic chemical found in plastics and listed as an endocrine disruptor. BPA is a propensity to migrate into foods stored in materials containing it. In this study, the concentration of BPA was determined in nine different food products packaged with polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. For each food product, four samples were bought from the local markets. Samples were extracted by liquid/liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction and analyzed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with a fluorescence detector. BPA concentrations were 4.28 +/- 1.79 mu g/kg in yoghurt, 12.51 +/- 3.87 mu g/L in strawberry-flavoured drink, 13.33 +/- 5.75 mu g/kg in cheese,14.93 +/- 6.55 mu g/kg in margarine, 20.91 +/- 8.60 mu g/L in grape molasses,24.72 +/- 7.61 mu g/kg in sunflower oil, 33.48 +/- 17.4 mu g/L in apple vinegar, 33.89 +/- 7.65 mu g/kg in pasteurized milk and, 72.77 +/- 20.6 mu g/L in the bottled water sample. Only the water samples had more BPA than the European Commission limit for BPA in food. We concluded that BPA contamination is common in many market products.