Furan and methylfuran contamination characteristics and dietary exposure assessment of imported canned food

ObjectiveTo investigate the contamination characteristics of furan and methylfuran in imported canned food and to evaluate the dietary exposure risk of furan in Chinese population.MethodsBased on convenient sampling method， 58 imported canned foods were collected in 2022， and the contents of furan were determined by isotope dilution headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. Combined with the food consumption of Chinese residents from 2018 to 2020， the risk of dietary exposure to furan in Chinese population was assessed by semi-quantitative assessment method.ResultsThe detection rates of furan， 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran in canned meat products were 50%， 100% and 87.5%， and the corresponding average contents were 5.0， 10.8 and 3.6 μg/kg， respectively. In canned fish products， the detection rates of furan， 2-methylfuran， 3-methylfuran and 2，5-dimethylfuran were 100%， 100%， 100% and 6%， respectively， and the corresponding average contents were 37.4， 52.4， 11.1 and 2.5 μg/kg， respectively. The exposure of furan to canned food was 0.4 ng/（kg·BW·d） and the combined exposure of furan and methylfuran was 1.1 ng/（kg·BW·d） in the population over 3 years old. The average exposure of furan and P95 to canned food was 18.5 ng/（kg·BW·d） and 54.6 ng/（kg·BW·d） respectively. The average combined exposure level of furan and methylfuran was 52.4 ng/（kg·BW·d）， and the P95 exposure level was 150.8 ng/（kg·BW·d）. For the risk of non-carcinogenic effects of furan， the exposure boundary （MOE） values of all age groups ranged from 83 920 to 279 494. For the carcinogenic risk of furan， the MOE values of all age groups ranged from 1 717 733 to 5 720 890.ConclusionThe health risk of furan exposure from imported canned food is low in Chinese population.