Pollution, source and risk assessment of PAHs in Chinese tea
Xinying Guo, Feng Chen, Weibing Zhang
Abstract
In this study, multi-walled carbon nanotubes continuous solid-phase extraction (MWCNTs-CSPE) combined with high-performance liquid chromatography in series with ultraviolet and fluorescence dual detectors (HPLC-DAD-FLD) approach were employed to investigate the concentration, source, and risk of 22 PAHs from Chinese tea products, classified and analyzed seven major categories and 28 varieties of 119 tea samples. The results found that the pollution degree of different varieties of tea is different, and the total concentration range of Σ22 PAHs is 136.99–462.51 μg/kg, in which ΣPAH4 (BaA, CHR, BbF, BaP) ranges from 37.64 to 106.90 μg/kg, ∑16 EPA PAHs is 136.99–440.82 μg/kg. PAHs are mainly composed of 2–4 rings. PAHs characteristic parameter analysis shows that PAHs in Chinese tea products are mainly from fuel oil, wood burning, coal and oil combustion. Benzo[a]pyrene always plays an important role in the carcinogenicity of samples. Lifetime cancer risk assessment showed that black tea had a higher cancer risk level which was 3.75 × 10−7–2.31 × 10−6. The cancer risk of ILCR increases with age, older adults have a higher lifetime cancer risk than younger children, and females have a higher lifetime cancer risk than males, but it can be ignored.