Appendix 4: Benzene in Beverages -- Deterministic Exposure Assessment

Note:

All non-alcoholic beverages (including soft drinks and juices) were lumped together and the intake figure for soft drinks (which is higher than that for juices) was employed in the calculations.

Note:

Use of grenadine and syrups in small quantities as a flavouring on desserts was not included in the exposure assessment.

60 kg, adult body weight
26.4 kg, 5-11 yr old body weight
53.8 kg, 12-19 yr old body weight

		ADULT		5-11 yr old		12-19 yr old
Beverage	Mean benzeneconc'n, nd=0.5 DL (1)(ng/g = ppb) (2)	Mean Intake Eaters only(g/day) (3)	PDI (5)(ng/kg bw/day)	Mean Intake Eaters only(g/day) (3)	PDI (5)(ng/kg bw/day)	Mean Intake Eaters only(g/day) (3) (6)	PDI (5)(ng/kg bw/day)
Non-alcoholic beverages, excluding the reformulated Kool-Aid products (4)	0.7	500	5.8	303	8.0	442	5.8
Alcoholic beverages (mainly coolers and cocktail mixes)	1.5	345	8.6	n/a	n/a	209	5.8
Kool-Aid Jammers "10" - old formulation (no longer entering retail) (7)	15.4	500	128.3	303	176.8	442	126.5
Scenario for beverage "A" containing 5 ng/g benzene	5	500	41.7	303	57.4	442	41.1
Scenario for beverage "B" containing 10 ng/g benzene	10	500	83.3	303	114.8	442	82.2

1. The non-detects (nd) were set to half the detection limit (DL), which is possibly an overestimation, considering that there were positive detections in 30% of the samples.
2. Benzene concentrations were measured in ng/mL and were converted to ng/g using the density values provided by FRD.
3. The intake figures for "soft drinks" and "alcoholic beverages" are based on a 24-hour dietary recall survey. The frequency of consumption has been assumed to be daily for the exposure calculations, with one exception (see note 6).
4. The tropical punch and cherry Kool-Aid Jammers "10" have since been reformulated and are were verified by FRD to no longer contain detectable levels of benzene.
5. PDI = Probable Daily Intake
6. The Nutrition Canada "alcoholic beverage" eaters only intake figure of 733 g for 12-19 yr olds has been multiplied by a factor of 2/7 in order to assume a frequency of consumption of 2 times per week.
7. This calculation demonstrates the PDI value for a scenario where elevated benzene levels are present in a product and there is preference by the consumer for that particular product.