Quantification and Risk Estimation of Benzoic Acid and Benzene in Flavored Soft Drink

Abstract

Benzene can be formed in beverages containing benzoic acid and ascorbic acid. The aims of this study were to quantify benzoic acid and benzene from flavored carbonated drink and fruit flavored drink, and risk estimation of their exposure. Thirty-six soft drink samples were randomly collected from popular convenience stores in Bangkok during February to May, 2021. Benzoic acid contents were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and benzene levels were quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Health risk estimations of benzoic acid were carried out using hazard quotient. For benzene, margin of exposure and cancer risk approaches were applied for the risk estimations. The results showed that up to 27.78% (10/36 samples) of the beverage products contained both benzoate preservatives and ascorbic acid. Average levels of benzoic acid in cola-flavoured carbonated drinks, non-cola-flavoured carbonated drinks and fruit-flavoured drinks were 76.35, 126.63 and 173.02 mg/L, respectively. Median concentrations of benzene were 2.61, 0.89 and 5.81 µg/L in cola-flavoured carbonated drinks, non-cola-flavoured carbonated drinks and fruit-flavoured drinks, respectively. Risk characterizations of exposure to benzoic acid and benzene indicated that there is no health risk to consumers. However, the potential risk should be communicated with food and beverage industry to avoid vitamin C fortification in foods and drinks containing benzoate preservatives in order to reduce the risk of high benzene formation in the products.