Exposure to carcinogenic PAHs for the vendors of broiled food

Abstract

Three types of popular vendors, including meat and non-meat food (e.g, fishballs), vendor group (I), rice sausage sandwiches vendor group (II), and roasted corn on-the-cob vendor group (III), from the night markets of Taiwan were chosen for this research. The average concentrations of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (car-PAHs) were 2445 ng/m3 for vendor (II), 2276 ng/m3 for vendor (II), and 133 ng/m3 for vendor (III). Vendors groups (I) and (II) had exposure levels of Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)-equivalent doses (BaPeq) approximately 16 and 13 times higher than those for vendor group (III). The daily exposure doses of BaPeq in working duration for vendor group (II) and (II) were 2.80 and 2.28 g/day, respectively. The employees of five offices on campus were chosen as a control group. The daily exposure doses of BaPeq during working hours for vendor group (II) and (II) were about 22 times and 18 times, respectively, higher than those for control group. This exposure dose for vendors group (III) (0.18 g/day) was comparable with the dose for control group (0.13 g/day). The whole-day exposure doses of t-PAHs, car-PAHs, BaP, and BaPeq for vendor groups (I) and (II) were very close to those during daily working hours. However, the daily exposure doses of BaPeq during working hours for vendor group (III) occurred only in a proportion of 62% of the whole-day exposure doses.