A survey of ethyl carbamate in beverages, bread and acidified milks sold in Denmark.

A sensitive gas-chromatographic method of analysis using mass specific detection has been applied to a study of ethyl carbamate in the Danish diet. Beverages and foods which were assumed to give a major contribution to the exposure of the Danish population to this potentially carcinogenic compound were investigated. Average values, ranges obtained for concentrations of ethyl carbamate and the number of analyses were 534 micrograms/l (< 5-5000 micrograms/l, n = 22) in spirits, 30 micrograms/l (7-61 micrograms/l, n = 14) in fortified wines, 7 micrograms/l (< 3-29 micrograms/l, n = 57) in wine, 3 micrograms/l (0.2-6.6 micrograms/l, n = 50) in beer, 3.5 micrograms/kg (0.8-12 micrograms/kg, n = 33) in bread and 0.2 microgram/kg (< 0.1-0.3 microgram/kg, n = 19) in yogurts and other acidified milk products. It is estimated that the average daily intake of ethyl carbamate is approximately 2 micrograms per person. The 5% of Danish males who have the highest alcohol intake probably consume more than 7 micrograms of ethyl carbamate per day.