Tiered human health risk assessment of colorants of emerging regulatory concern in household products

Colorants in household products may contribute to direct human exposure, yet occurrence, migration, and health-risk data remain limited. We investigated 205 visibly colored products, including kitchen cleaning products, disposable wiping products, and disposable food-contact articles, for 40 target colorants using LC–MS/MS and applied a tiered assessment to characterize human health risks and identify chemical–product combinations of potential concern. Ten colorants were detected. Paper napkins showed the greatest diversity, with at least one target detected in 10 of 23 samples. Basic Violet 10 was detected in 8 of 23 napkins at a median of 2.45 mg/kg (range, 0.154–1,147 mg/kg). In food-contact articles, Basic Violet 10 and Solvent Yellow 114 migrated at 8.55 and 793 μg/L, respectively. Tier 1 screening identified potential concern for Basic Violet 10 (cancer MOE, 475) and Basic Violet 3 (non-cancer MOE, 3,069). Tier 2 refined these compounds and additionally evaluated Solvent Yellow 14 and Pigment Red 53, which were prioritized based on carcinogenicity- or genotoxicity-related hazard evidence despite no Tier 1 screening concern. Follow-up napkin migration testing detected measurable migration only for Basic Violet 10. Its P95 non-cancer and cancer MOEs were 5.78 × 10 3 –1.15 × 10 4 and 1.97 × 10 4 –3.91 × 104, respectively, above their target MOEs, although the cancer margins were comparatively narrow. For paper straws, the combined beverage-migration and lip-contact scenario yielded P95 non-cancer and cancer MOEs of 1.55 × 10 5 –1.65 × 10 6 and 5.26 × 10 5 –5.60 × 10 6 , respectively. Sensitivity analysis identified pathway-specific exposure drivers, with napkin exposure dominated by use frequency and migration level and straw exposure driven by beverage intake for migration-related ingestion and use frequency for lip-contact transfer. Overall, appreciable health concern was not identified under the evaluated scenarios, although the comparatively narrow cancer MOE for Basic Violet 10 in paper napkins warrants cautious interpretation and may merit continued monitoring.