pubs.acs.org/JAFC Published on Web 05/15/2009 Published 2009 by the American Chemical Society J. Agric. Food Chem. 2009, 57, 5345–5351 5345 DOI:10.1021/jf9006888 Bisphenol A in Baby Food Products in Glass Jars with Metal Lids from Canadian Markets XU-LIANG CAO,* ,† JEANNETTE CORRIVEAU, † SVETLANA POPOVIC, † GENEVIEVE CLEMENT, § FRANCA BERALDIN, § AND GUY DUFRESNE § † Food Research Division, Bureau of Chemical Safety, Food Directorate, Health Canada, 251 Frederick Banting Driveway, AL: 2203D, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0L2, and § Quebec Regional Laboratory, Food Directorate, Health Canada, 1001 West St-Laurent, Longueuil, Qu ebec, Canada J4K 1C7 A method based on solid phase extraction and derivatization with acetic anhydride followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was validated for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby foods. The average method detection limit (MDL) was 0.18 ng/g for a 5 g sample. Method repeatability was demonstrated with the replicate analyses of various different types of baby foods; relative standard deviations (RSD) ranged from 1.2 to 16.1% with an average of 8.7%. Extraction recoveries ranged from 93.5 to 102.5% for different types of baby foods spiked at levels of 1-8 ng/g. This method was used to analyze 122 baby food products of 7 brands in glass jars with metal lids for BPA. The presence of BPA could not be confirmed and quantified for 23 of the 122 products due to interference from sample matrices. For the other 99 products, 15% had BPA levels of less than the average MDL, about 70% had BPA levels of less than 1 ng/g, and the average BPA levels in all 99 products was 1.1 ng/g. The average BPA level in the baby food products from brand E (3.9 ng/g) is higher than the average BPA levels in the products from the other brands (0.54-1.1 ng/g). The highest level of BPA, 7.2 ng/g, was found in two products from brand E as well. The average BPA level in the fruit products from all brands (0.60 ng/g) is lower than those in the mixed-dish products (1.1 ng/g) and the vegetable products (1.2 ng/g). KEYWORDS: Bisphenol A; baby food; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; solid phase extraction INTRODUCTION Bisphenol A (BPA) is used as a monomer in the production of epoxy resins, which are frequently used in the internal coating for food and beverage cans to protect the food and beverage from direct contact with metal and are also used in the internal coating on metal lids for foods in glass jars. Residues of BPA in these coatings can migrate into foods, especially at elevated tempera- tures. Because BPA is a potential endocrine disruptor that mimics the action of the hormone estrogen (1 ), the specific migration limit for BPA in food or food simulant was set at 0.6 μg/g by the EC Directive in an amending document relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food- stuffs (2 ). The maximum acceptable dose and tolerable daily intake (TDI) for BPA were established at 50 μg/kg of body weight/day by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (3 ) and the European Food Safety Authority (4 ), respectively, whereas Health Canada established the provisional TDI for BPA at 25 μg/kg of body weight/day (5 ). Although levels of BPA have been determined in various canned food products (6-16), information on BPA in foods, baby foods in particular, contained in glass jars with metal lids is simply not available. This may be due to the assumption that migration of BPA from the coating on metal lids into foods rarely happens compared to the canned foods and, thus, BPA levels in jarred foods are expected to be low. However, there are situations in which migration of BPA from coating on lids into foods will occur, such as during transportation due to shaking and acci- dental storage of the jarred foods in a nonvertical upright position. Although it is still not clear, the plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used in the gasket in the metal lids to seal against the glass rim could also be an additional source of BPA in jarred foods, as it is already known that BADGE is used as an additive for the elimination of surplus hydrochloric acid in the production of PVC organosols (17 ) and it is also reported that BPA is used as an additive in PVC films (18 ). Because baby foods in glass jars with metal lids are an important part of the diets for children aged 6 months and older, the current exposure assessment for BPA for this age group conducted under the government of Canada’s chemicals manage- ment plan (CMP), based on results from infant formula, human milk, and baby bottles only, is not complete and may be under- estimated (19 ). In this work, the method used previously for the determination of BPA in liquid infant formula products (15 ) and soft drinks (16 ) was adapted and validated for the determination of BPA in baby foods; levels of BPA in various baby foods *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed (e-mail xu-liang_cao@hc-sc.gc.ca).