Determination method and distribution of phthalate diesters in beverage collected from Hanoi, Vietnam

Phthalates, industrial synthetic chemicals, have been widely used in consumer products to improve the flexibility of plastics. The fact shows that the more plastic products (cosmetics, beverage covered by plastic, personal care products, food wrap film, etc.) are used, therefore, the more phthalates are found in various environments such as sludge, dust, air, and water. In spite of their significant benefits in our lives and industry, their effects on the reproductive and toxicities in laboratory animals have been shown. However, the comprehension of phthalates has been limited. In this work, the method for determination of phthalates in beverage by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS) technique has been optimized. The method quantitative limits for phthalates ranged from 0.3 to 1.5 ng/mL. The recoveries of surrogate compounds for procedural blanks ranged from 73.4 to 91.6%, with RSD<10.7%. The total concentrations of phthalates in several kinds of beverage collected from Hanoi, Vietnam were found at ranging of 18.0 - 87.5 ng/mL. However, these values were much lower than the permissible limit of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) only in beverage by Vietnam Ministry of Health (1500 ng/mL).