NON-DIOXIN-LIKE PCB's IN FOOD AND FEED - EUROPE: SURVEILLANCE

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Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010
Source: European Food Safety Authority, EFSA Journal 2010; 8(7):1701
[abridged, edited]



Results of the monitoring of non dioxin-like PCBs in food and feed
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Abstract
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Non dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (NDL-PCBs) are persistent
organic chemicals that accumulate in the environment and humans and
are associated with a broad spectrum of health effects. Processing
and distribution of PCBs has been prohibited in almost all industrial
countries since the late 1980s but they still can be released into
the environment from electrical appliances, building paint and
sealants and waste sites that contain PCBs.

In 2002, the European Commission prescribed a list of actions to be
taken to reduce the presence of dioxins and PCBs in food and feed and
Member States were recommended to monitor the situation. A total of
12 563 food and feed samples collected in the period 1995 - 2008 from
18 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway were retained for a detailed
analysis of the occurrence of the 6 indicator NDL-PCBs (# 28, 52,
101, 138, 153, and 180). Overall, 18.8 percent of the results for
single congeners were below the limit of quantification (LOQ) but
their distribution varied highly between food and feed groups.
PCB-153 and PCB-138 were the most commonly detected congeners.

In food, the highest mean contamination level was observed in fish
and fish derived products followed by eggs, milk and their products,
and meat and meat products from terrestrial animals. The lowest
contamination was observed in foods of plant origin. A similar
pattern was observed in feed where high contamination was reported in
feed containing fish derived products and comparatively very low
levels in feed of plant or mineral origin. The sum of the 6 NDL-PCBs
was on average close to 5 times higher than the sum of the 12
dioxin-like PCBs. This relationship varied across food groups and is
presumably related to the origin of samples and the contamination
source. Country-specific clustering has been observed in several food
and feed groups.

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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail


[PCB's have been known to penetrate skin and latex gloves. PCB's are
persistent and do not easily degrade. Health effects from contact or
ingestion cover most of the systems of the body, including skin
rashes and break outs, liver, thyroid, and stomach problems or organ failure.

Many areas in Europe and the America's have high concentrations in
the environment.

It is probably a late, but proactive move to try to control PCB's in
food. One has to wonder why this move was not made 20 years ago. - Mod.TG]

[see also:
2003
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PCB contamination, salmon - Multicountry: background 20030803.1904
PCB contamination, salmon - Multicountry 20030802.1893
1999
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Dioxin & PCB contam., food - Belgium: update 19990729.1281
Dioxin & PCB contamination of food - Germany 19990613.1010
Dioxin & PCB contamination of food - Belgium 19990610.0999
PCB toxicity, birds - USA (Wisconsin): website 19990523.0856
PCB toxicity, birds - USA (Wisconsin) 19990515.0798]
....................arn/tg/ejp/mpp

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