An official website of the United States government.
<p>These projects aim to increase our understanding of the occurrence of 3-MCPD fatty acid esters in food.</p>
<p>A literature review will be undertaken and a report compiled summarising the theoretical and practical aspects of 3-MCPD occurrence in food. Following the review, labelled and non-labelled fatty acid esters, including mono- and diacylglycerols , 3-MCPD esters and glycidol esters will be synthesised in the laboratory.</p>
<p>An analytical method will be developed and validated that will enable the determination of esters of 3-MCPD and related chemicals such as glycidol esters. This method will be used to quantify the relative amounts of 3-MCPD, 3-MCPD esters (mono- and di-esters) and glycidol esters in food.</p>
<p>The formation, decomposition and mitigation of 3-MCPD esters will be studied in a model system using pure reference chemicals. The effects of processing and storage on the relative amounts of 3-MCPD, 3-MCPD esters (mono- and di-esters) and glycidol esters in food will also be studied and compared to the model system.</p>
<p>The projects should enable the Agency to identify how contamination of food by 3-MCPD and its esters can be minimised in order to reduce potential risks to human health. </p>
<p>Background: Chloropropanols and their fatty acid esters, chloroesters, are contaminants formed during the processing and manufacture of certain foods and ingredients. The formation of chloroesters may be widespread in processed foods derived from cereals, coffee, fish, meat, potatoes, nuts and refined oils. Chloroesters may occur in many ingredients that are processed by heat, and the subsequent release of the chemical 3-MCPD from these materials during processing and storage needs to be considered.</p>
<p>The presence of chloropropanols, chloroesters and the breakdown product 3-MCPD in foods is of concern because toxicological studies suggest they might pose a risk to human health. </p>