Comparison of levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in edible oils and oil-based products—possible link to environmental factors

Abstract

Food consumption has been widely reported to be the main source of human exposure to PCBs. A total of 47 samples of food products on sale in supermarkets in the United Kingdom were thus analyzed for PCBs to determine residual levels in oil and oil-based products. The objective was to compare the measured levels of total PCBs (ΣPCBs) in food products to those reported in various environmental compartments. Combined extraction and online clean up was achieved using Accelerated Solvent Extraction™ (ASE) to recover target analytes for analysis by GC-MSD (gas chromatography mass spectrometry). Σ PCBs (ng/g) in each product were in the ranges of 4.73–44.38 edible oil; 1.40–6.18 mayonnaise; 1.21–6.25 salad cream; 1.28–5.64 seafood sauce, and 0.97–15.08 exotic dressing. The level of human exposure to PCBs in all products was < 1 μg/kg body weight/day when considering a 70 kg male or 57 kg female, possibly reflecting the reported decline of PCBs in the environment.

Keywords:

• PCBs
• pathways
• distribution
• diet
• oil
• fat

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate and thank the Imperial College London, for the financial support and the permission to conduct the experimental work of this study at the Wain Laboratory on Wye Campus, Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom.

Notes

^a Packed in the UK for various supermarkets (SM);

*Flavored extra virgin oil;

^b Sunflower and rapeseed oil,

^c sunflower and olive oil, ED: exotic dressing.

¹PCBs residue in Australian foodstuff,

² Total diet study (TDS) in Ottawa, 1995;

³UK TDS, 1982. Units from citations changed from pg/g to ng/g and rounded up to two decimal places for simplicity in comparison

¹Indicator PCBs, expressed in ng/kgbw/day.

²DL-PCBs – dioxin-like PCBs expressed in pgWHO-TEQ/kg bodyweight/day.

³23 congeners including the indicator PCBs, expressed in ng/kgbw/day.

²*Dioxin like PCBs expressed in pg-TEQ/kg/day.

^a Values calculated from Pacyna et al.^{[ 42 ]}

*Maximum values.