Risk Profiling of 3-MCPD (3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol) in Soy Sauce to the Adult Filipino Consuming Population

Soy sauce is one of the commonly consumed food items in the Philippines because of its vast applications as a regular sauce and a condiment in various food dishes. One method used to produce soy sauce is chemical hydrolysis that involves acid hydrolysis of vegetable protein under high temperatures, which may generate a chemical by-product called 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD). Exposure to 3-MCPD may potentially cause adverse health effects to humans such as kidney, liver, and reproductive organ failure, as well as infertility and carcinogenicity. Thus, this study aimed to establish a profile on the potential risk associated with the consumption of soy sauce with 3-MCPD in the Philippines. This study included risk profile conceptualization, literature review, and identification of uncertainties and variabilities to formulate assumptions, which were then used in the dietary exposure (DE) assessment and estimation of risk of the adult Filipino consuming population to 3-MCPD in soy sauce. Analysis showed that the soy sauce samples (n = 19) collected from identified supermarkets and wet markets in the Philippines contained 3-MCPD levels below the maximum level (ML) of 0.4 mg/kg set by the 2019 edition of the Codex General Standards for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed. With these generated data on the hazard levels, the high consumer (97.5th) percentile soy sauce consumption data from the Philippine Department of Science and Technology–Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), and the assumed body weight of an adult Asian, the DE of the adult Filipino consuming population to 3-MCPD in soy sauce was estimated to be 0.0327–0.1636 µg/kg body weight (bw)/d, which was lower than 4 µg/kg bw – the latest provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in 2016. Based on these findings, the consumption of soy sauce showed no appreciable risk to the health of the Filipino consuming population.