Flame retardants are applied to a wide range of materials to improve their
fire resistance. However, they leak from those materials into the environment. There
are many compounds used as flame retardants, the most relevant organic ones being
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), other
halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) and organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs).
Exposition to flame retardants can be through ingestion, inhalation and skin
permeation. Different studies report that food account for most of the exposition to
PBDEs. Data indicates that seafood is the main contributor to PBDE intake in Europe
and Japan, while meat is the main contributor in the United States and Canada. For this
reason, it is one of the main public health interests that food be innocuous. This chapter
compares seventeen publications that apply methods suitable for the analysis of flame
retardants in food. Some publications include different methods targeting different
groups of compounds. PBDEs and most HFRs are commonly analyzed together by GC.
HBCD tends to be extracted separately and analyzed by LC. OPFRs are also extracted
and analyzed independently, but few methods target them currently. The present text
presents and compares the sample treatment, the instrumental analysis and the quality
parameters for the listed methods. A final comment on levels of flame retardants in
food and dietary intake is provided.
Keywords: BFRs, Clean-up, Dechloranes, Dietary intake, Extraction techniques,
Flame retardants, Food analysis, Food safety, Gas chromatography, HBCD,
HFRs, Instrumental analysis, Lipid removal, Liquid chromatography, Mass
spectrometry, Methods comparison, OPFRs, PBDEs, Quality parameters, Sample
treatment.
