Dietary exposure to ochratoxin A and zearalenone in edible vegetable oils among the Korean population

This research investigated the concentrations and dietary exposure of ochratoxin A (OTA) and zearalenone (ZEN) in edible vegetable oils among the Korean population. In 2022, 80 edible vegetable oil samples were collected from various retail sources in Korea. OTA was detected in 7.5% of the samples, and ZEN was detected in 62.5%. Dietary intake estimates were based on our findings and food consumption data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Dietary exposure was evaluated under lower bound, middle bound, and upper bound scenarios. The margin of exposure for OTA at the 95th percentile exposure exceeded 10,000 in all scenarios, indicating a low health concern. The estimated daily intake of ZEN under the three scenarios accounted for 0.03-0.11% of the tolerable daily intake of 0.4 μg/kg bw/day in the overall population, with the 95th percentile exposure reaching 0.11%, indicating that ZEN exposure from edible vegetable oils was well below the health-based guidance value. These results indicate that dietary exposure to OTA and ZEN from edible vegetable oils is not considered to pose a significant health risk to the Korean population.