Polychlorinated Dioxins, Furans, and Biphenyls, and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in a U.S. Meat Market Basket and Estimates of Dietary Intake

• Published in: Environmental science & technology 2005-08, Vol.39 (15), p.5606-5611
• Main Authors: Huwe, Janice K, Larsen, Gerald L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Benzofurans - analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Cattle; Chickens; Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; Diet; Diet Surveys; Dioxins; Environmental Pollutants - analysis; Food Contamination - analysis; Food industries; Fuels; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Human exposure; Lipids; Meat; Meat - analysis; Meat and meat product industries; PCB; Phenyl Ethers - analysis; Polybrominated Biphenyls - analysis; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins - analogs & derivatives; Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins - analysis; Swine; United States
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es050638g

Persistent environmental contaminants including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), non-ortho-polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were analyzed in 65 meat samples collected from supermarkets across the U.S. in 2001. The samples included hamburger, sirloin steaks, pork chops, bacon, and whole chickens from nine different cities. The average PCDD/F/non-ortho-PCB toxic equivalency (TEQ) for all the samples was 0.55 pg/g of lipid (nd (nondetect) = DL (detection limit)/2) with a range from nondetectable to 3.21 pg/g of lipid. For PBDEs, eight congeners were routinely found in the meat samples with an average sum of 1.71 ng/g of lipid (nd = DL/2) and a range from nondetectable to 16.6 ng/g of lipid. While average TEQs were similar to recent values reported in Europe and Asia, the sums of PBDEs in chicken and pork were 3−20 times higher than levels reported in Spain and Japan for these foods. The presence of a few outliers raised the average PBDE sums and indicated that isolated sources of contamination may exist that, if identified, could be removed from the U.S. animal production chain. Using these TEQ and PBDE values and USDA food consumption data, the estimated dietary intake ranges from meat products were 5.3−16.0 pg TEQ and 14.9−44.7 ng of PBDEs/d or 0.1−0.3 pg TEQ and 0.3−0.5 (ng of PBDEs/kg of body mass)/d for an average individual, similar to intakes in other countries.