Background: The use of sulfuryl fluoride, a structural fumigant for termite and woodborer control, has recently been expanded to treating stored food commodities and food facilities. There is, however, a lack of data on the sorption of sulfuryl fluoride by food commodities. Knowledge about sorption is important in the context of effective treatment and residues. Results: When sulfuryl fluoride was applied at a dose of 50 g m(-3) to various food commodities (total 68) with 300 g per replicate in 0.75 L gas wash bottles (fumigation chambers) at 25 +/- 1 degrees C, in most cases (81%) the gas concentrations in the free space of the commodities exceeded 50 g m(-3) (range 51-80g m(-3)) at the end of 24h exposure. In chambers without the substrate, an average concentration of 49.7g m(-3) was recorded. About 54% of the commodities showed low-level (<= 25%) sorption of sulfuryl fluoride, 34% showed medium-level (26-50%) sorption and only 12% were highly sorptive (> 50%). The latter include white oats (terminal gas concentration 17.8 g m(-3)), some of the decorticated split pulses (24.0-29.3 g m(-3)), chickpea flour (26.3 g m(-3)), dried ginger (29.0 g m(-3)), refined wheat flour (30.3 g m(-3)) and coriander powder (40.5 g m(-3)). In unfumigated control commodities, owing to interfering volatiles, Fumiscope (R) readings in the range 0-13 were rioted. Conclusion: Sulfuryl fluoride has the advantage of a low or moderate level of sorption with the majority of the food commodities.