An analytical strategy dedicated to 4 major phthalate diesters (DiBP, DnBP, BBzP and DEHP) monitoring in food items has been developed and validated according to normalized guidelines. The method has been applied to a wide range of foodstuffs (n=54) to generate first-ever occurrence data at the French level. This method involves separation and detection using gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, in electron ionisation with highly specific selected reaction monitoring, quantification being performed according to the isotope dilution principle. A particular attention has been paid to background contamination management at any stage of the analytical process, from the sampling to the expression of the results. Limits of reporting, defined as statistically different from background contamination, were found to be 2.7, 0.53, 0.18 and 3.4 μg.kg-1, and relative combined uncertainties were finally found to be 7.6%, 12.2%, 12.0% and 14.1%, for DiBP, DnBP, BBzP and DEHP, respectively.