Characteristics, prediction, and risk assessment of phthalates, organophosphate esters, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in vegetables from plastic greenhouses of Northeast China.

We investigated the contaminations of phthalates (PAEs), organophosphate esters (OPEs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the vegetables and their corresponding soils from 26 plastic greenhouses of Northeast China. PAEs, OPEs, and PAHs in the edible portion of vegetables were in the range of 2620-21800, 115-852, and 32.4-602 ng/g, while the levels of these chemicals in the greenhouse soils were 5770-18800, 196-935, and 109-1600 ng/g, respectively. PAEs are the main organic pollutants in greenhouses, which were 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than that of OPEs and PAHs. Leafy vegetables showed the highest contamination level, which is ∼1-3 times that of root and fruit vegetables. Bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) of chemicals are significantly negatively correlated with their physicochemical properties, e.g., octanol-water partition coefficient and organic carbon partition coefficient. The partition-limited model can accurately predict the contamination level of greenhouse vegetables to a certain extent based on the chemical's concentration in the corresponding soil. We assessed the hazard quotients of target compounds through daily intake of greenhouse vegetables, and found a low risk for di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. This research emphasized the potential dietary exposure risks caused by greenhouse leafy vegetables, and proposed a method for evaluating the risk of greenhouse vegetables through soil monitoring.