Occurrence of 3-monochloropropanediol esters and glycidyl esters in commercial infant formulas in the United States

This work presents occurrence data for fatty acid esters of 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) and glycidol in 98 infant formula samples purchased in the United States. These contaminants are considered potentially carcinogenic and/or genotoxic, making their presence in refined oils and foods a potential health risk. Recently, attention has focused on methodology to quantify MCPD and glycidyl esters in infant formula for risk-assessment purposes. Occurrence data for 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters were produced using a procedure for extracting fat from infant formula and an LC-MS/MS method for analysing fat extracts for intact esters. Infant formulas were produced by seven manufacturers, five of which use palm oil and/or palm olein in their formulations. In formulas containing palm/palm olein, concentrations for bound 3-MCPD and glycidol ranged from 0.021 to 0.92 mg kg^–1 (ppm) and from < LOQ to 0.40 mg kg^–1 (ppm), respectively. Formulas not containing palm/palm olein, bound 3-MCPD and glycidol concentrations ranged from 0.072 to 0.16 mg kg^–1 (ppm) and from 0.005 to 0.15 mg kg^–1 (ppm), respectively. Although formulas from manufacturers A and G did not contain palm/palm olein, formulas from manufacturer E (containing palm olein) had the lowest concentrations of bound 3-MCPD and glycidol, demonstrating the effectiveness of industrial mitigation strategies.