# Determination and Risk Assessment of Flavor Components in Flavored Milk
###### Abstract  
This study aimed to determine chemical composition and assess exposure in flavored milk among Chinese residents, based on risk assessment methodologies of acceptable daily intake (ADI) and toxicological concern threshold (TTC). Esters (32.17%), alcohols (11.19%), olefins (9.09%), aldehydes (8.39%), and ketones (7.34%) comprised the majority of the flavoring samples. Methyl palmitate (90.91%), ethyl butyrate (81.82%), and dipentene (81.82%) had the highest detection rates in flavor samples. This study screened fifteen flavor components of concern and discovered that 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, furfural, benzaldehyde, and benzenemethanol were detected in 100% of flavored milk samples. Benzenemethanol was found in the highest concentration (14,995.44 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro g}\) kg\({}^{-1}\)). The risk assessment results revealed that there was no risk for Chinese residents in consuming flavored milk, and the maximum per capita daily consumption of 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, furfural, and benzenemethanol were 226.208 g, 140.610 g, and 120.036 g, respectively. This study could provide guidelines for amounts of flavor additive ingredients in milk. flavored milk; SPME-GC/MS; flavor components; acceptable daily intake; toxicological concern threshold 2023122151122  
harm [7]. Toxicological concern threshold (TTC) is also a useful screening and prioritizing measure for assessing food safety [8]. Each substance is examined and categorized based on chemical structure, and divided into three human exposure thresholds (1800, 540 and 90 \(\upmu\)p\({}^{-1}\) d\({}^{-1}\)). When a substance's human exposure is lower than the threshold value, the potential safety risk is negligible. Risk exposure assessment needs to combine the concentration of chemicals and the amount of food consumed [9]. A common means of determining this is to interview and record by questionnaire, such as investigating and analyzing the correlation between dairy product consumption and cardiovascular diseases [10], serum vitamin D deficiency [11], ACEN [12], cultural factors and purchasing behavior [13]. Hence, it is an excellent choice that this study adopts a questionnaire method to investigate the consumption of flavored milk in different age groups. Currently, flavor extraction and determination procedures in dairy products include solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) [14; 15], supercritical CO\({}_{2}\) fluid extraction (SFE), and dynamic headspace (DHS) [16]. The flavor compounds of infant milk powder [17], reduced-fat dairy products [18], raw goat cheese [19], pea protein beverages [20], camel milk [21], cattle and sheep milk [22], mascarpone cheese [23], and sweet condensed milk [24] were mainly determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). We investigated and measured the consumption of flavored milk in various age groups and established a risk assessment model for flavored milk. This risk assessment has been carried out by taking the mean value as the food consumption data and the maximum detected value as the substance concentration data. This study was necessary and important to provide additive standards for flavor ingredient amounts in milk.