The carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbon benzene has recently been detected in drinks with added cherry flavour, and it was suggested that benzene could be formed from benzaldehyde used as flavouring. To get a deeper insight into parameters favouring benzene formation, the influence of light, pH, oxygen, temperature as well as presence of transition metal ions was studied in model solutions of benzaldehyde. It was found that in particular irradiation with light increased benzene formation. However, this was not observed in a cherry juice most probably due to absorption of light by the red colour. Therefore, the benzene detected in commercial cherry juices may have been added as contaminant of the benzaldehyde used in the flavouring. The assumption was confirmed by the analysis of commercial flavourings. Thus, to avoid benzene formation in flavourings, amber glass vials must be used during production, storage and sale.

中文翻译：

---

由苯甲醛形成苯的模型研究

最近在添加樱桃味的饮料中发现了致癌的芳烃苯，并且有人提出，苯甲醛可以由用作调味剂的苯甲醛形成。为了更深入地了解有利于苯形成的参数，在苯甲醛模型溶液中研究了光，pH，氧，温度以及过渡金属离子的存在的影响。已发现特别是光照射增加了苯的形成。然而，这在樱桃汁中未观察到，最可能是由于红色吸收了光。因此，可能已经添加了商用樱桃汁中检测到的苯作为调味剂中所用苯甲醛的污染物。通过商业调味料的分析证实了该假设。因此，为避免调味剂中形成苯，