Hazardous Substance Reduction in the Food Processing Industry

Chlorine is used in relatively large concentrations (2000ppm v/w) in flour bleaching processes. No successful by-product identification work has been performed on chlorinated flour despite demonstrated hazards of chlorination on animals in feeding studies. The focus of this work is therefore to examine the chlorination process and identify the by-products formed from the chlorination of cake flour. Special emphasis is placed on the identification of chlorinated compounds, especially the mutagen 3-chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone (MX), previously found to be present in significant concentrations in chlorinated drinking waters. Preliminary work has focused on establishing contact with flour mi l ls and obtaining samples of treated and untreated flour, and on developing methods for extraction and analysis of these samples. High Resolution Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry (HRGC/MS) analyses of methylene chloride extracts cake flour has resulted in the detection of several peaks (compounds) unique to chlorine treated flour. These compounds appear to be high molecular weight (350-500 mu), long chain (>CIS) alcohols and acids. Analyses specifically directed toward the identification of MX have indicated that this compound, if methylene chloride extractable, may be present in concentrations below 125pg/g in bleached flour.