Assessment of Preservative and Pesticide Exposure in Taiwanese Vegetarian Populations through Duplication Diet Analysis

Abstract

In Taiwan's vegetarian community, which encompasses around 2.5 million individuals, the consumption of food preservatives and pesticides poses potential health risks that have yet to be thoroughly investigated. This study employs a duplicate diet methodology to evaluate these risks, analyzing all foods ingested over a 3-day period. The detection results of food preservatives show that the detection rate of benzoic acid is higher than that of sorbic acid, while dehydroacetic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and salicylic acid are not detected. At the same time, the food categories where benzoic acid and sorbic acid were detected include dried bean products (0.16 g/kg and 0.06 g/kg), other soy protein products (0.09 g/kg and 0.03 g/kg), and pickled vegetables (0.2 g/kg and 0.06 g/kg). In the detection results of pesticide residues, we found that the concentration of fipronil (0.003 ppm) detected in pickled vegetables is higher than the allowable standard for pesticide residues in Taiwan (0.001 ppm). The results of the food safety risk assessment show that the risks of vegetarians ingesting benzoic acid, sorbic acid, and fipronil are 13.2%ADI, 2.4%ADI, and 24.32%ADI, respectively, all of which are within acceptable ranges. However, the intake levels of benzoic acid and fipronil exceed the 10%ADI suggested by the Codex Alimentarius Commission as a cautionary benchmark. Given these findings, it is recommended that future research should focus on food categories with significant contributions to overall exposure, particularly other soy protein products and pickled vegetables, and maintain vigilance regarding fipronil exposure among vegetarians.