Assessment of Phthalate Esters in A Variety of Carbonated Beverages Bottled in PET

Background: Phthalate esters are polymeric compounds usually used as a plasticizer. These materials can enter to the human body through various ways the main way could be food packaging. Chronic contact with these materials could result cancer, including breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men as well as other endocrine problems. The objective of this study was to assess the concentration of phthalate esters in carbonated beverages. Methods: In this study, a magnetic nano-scale adsorbent, made from carbon nanotubes and Fe3O4. Deposition of Fe3O4 on the adsorbent could result in improvement of adsorption and desorption as well as extraction procedure. Then, by means of adsorbent and solvent extraction, phthalate esters were extracted from the beverage matrices and determined using GC-MS analysis. Results: amongst studied ingredients, BEP or DEHP, that have been found to be carcinogenic, had highest concentration in beverages, and also the brand of A and taste of C had the highest average concentration. Except one sample, the total amounts of these ingredients were below than international standards. Conclusion: Based on the results, consumers can use these beverages without any concern regarding phthalate esters amounts. The results also demonstrated that this synthesized adsorbent has good performance for extraction of phthalates from studied matrices.