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BACKGROUND: Phthalates have been found in many personal care and industrial products, but have not previously been reported in food purchased in the United States. Phthalates are ubiquitous synthetic compounds and therefore difficult to measure in foods containing trace levels. Phthalates have been associated with endocrine disruption and developmental alteration.

OBJECTIVES: Our goals were to report concentrations of phthalates in U. S. food for the first time, specifically, nine phthalates in 72 individual food samples purchased in Albany, New York, and to compare these findings with other countries and estimate dietary phthalate intake.

METHODS: A convenience sample of commonly consumed foods was purchased from New York supermarkets. Methods were developed to analyze these foods using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. Dietary intakes of phthalates were estimated as the product of the food consumption rate and concentration of phthalates in that food.

RESULTS: The range of detection frequency of individual phthalates varied from 6% for dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) to 74% for di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). DEHP concentrations were the highest of the phthalates measured in all foods except beef [where di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP) was the highest phthalate found], with pork having the highest estimated mean concentration of any food group (mean 300 ng/g; maximum, 1,158 ng/g). Estimated mean adult intakes ranged from 0.004 mu g/kg/day for dimethyl phthalate (DMP) to 0.673 mu g/kg/day for DEHP.

CONCLUSIONS: Phthalates are widely present in U. S. foods. While estimated intakes for individual phthalates in this study were more than an order of magnitude lower than U. S. Environmental Protection Agency reference doses, cumulative exposure to phthalates is of concern and a more representa-tive survey of U. S. foods is indicated.