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Analysis and contamination levels of ten phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in Chinese commercial bubble tea: a comparison with commercial milk

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Abstract

Phthalic acid ester (PAE) contamination in popular drink bubble tea has been hardly studied in the world. In this work, a liquid–liquid extraction following solid phase extraction (LLE-SPE)-UPLC-MS/MS method was first established for trace determination of ten PAEs in bubble tea. The developed method was validated with respect to linearity (R2 > 0.992), low limit of detections (LODs, 0.49–3.16 µg/L), and satisfactory recoveries (61.8–127.6%) with a low relative standard derivations (RSDs, 1.1–16.4%), which was also validated for commercial milk. Six out of ten PAEs, i.e., diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dihexyl phthalate (DHP), and diphenyl phthalate (DPP) were detected in Chinese bubble tea with concentrations ranging from not detection (ND) to 53.43 µg/L, while DEHP, DBP, DIBP, DEP, and dimethyl phthalate (DMP) were detected in commercial milk with concentrations ranging from ND to 110.58 µg/L. The respective average concentrations of DEHP in Chinese bubble tea and commercial milk were 19.40 and 23.46 µg/L, which were over two times that in drinking water quality standards of several countries including Israel, Korea, Oman, and Singapore (i.e., 8 µg/L). Calculated with human estimated daily intake (EDI), the average EDIs of five out of seven PAEs in bubble tea were higher than those in commercial milk. For example, the calculated EDI of DIBP in bubble tea was 5 times that in commercial milk, while their respective corresponding EDIs of DBP and DEHP were over 2.4 and 1.6 times. Based on estrogen equivalence (EEQ) with the unit of ng E2/L, the average EEQs of the ten PAEs in Chinese bubble tea and commercial milk were 14.26 and 17.06 ng E2/L, which were 52.8 and 62.3 times the observed effect concentration that could cause egg mortality of zebrafish. It is evident that the potential estrogenic effect of PAEs in bubble tea and commercial milk cannot be negligible. Given the fact that PAE contamination in bubble tea has been hardly investigated, such study is urgently to be performed in a global view.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 21577040; no. 21107025); Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China (no. 201904010100; no. 201510010162); Special Funds for Public Welfare Research and Capacity Building in Guangdong Province (no. 2015A020215003), Zhongshan Public Water Co. LTD for water micropollutant project (no. ZPW-2020-A-010), and the Guangdong Science and Technology Program (no. 2020B121201003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    De- kang Huang, Ze-hua Liu, Yi-ping Wan & Zhi Dang

  2. Key Lab Pollution Control & Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Cluster, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Ze-hua Liu

  3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Ze-hua Liu

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De-kang Huang: data analysis and original draft preparation. Ze-hua Liu: supervisor, funding support, and writing review. Yi-ping Wan: sample preparation. Zhi Dang: writing review.

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Correspondence to Ze-hua Liu.

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Huang, D.k., Liu, Zh., Wan, Yp. et al. Analysis and contamination levels of ten phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in Chinese commercial bubble tea: a comparison with commercial milk. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 103153–103163 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29728-7

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