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Abstract
In 2008, the discovery of elevated levels of dioxins and PCBs in a porcine fat sample taken as part of the national residues monitoring programme led to the detection of a major feed contamination incidence in the Republic of Ireland. To estimate additional exposure to dioxins and PCBs due to the contamination incident, all data associated with the contamination incident were collected and reviewed. An exposure model was devised that took into account the proportion of contaminated product reaching the final consumer during the contamination incident window and which utilised all additional information that became available after the incident occurred. Exposure estimates derived for both dioxins and PCBs showed that the body burden of the general population remained largely unaffected by the contamination incident and only approximately 10% were exposed to elevated levels of dioxins and PCBs. Whilst this proportion of the population experienced quite a significant additional load to the existing body burden, the estimated exposure values do not suggest that these would be associated with adverse health effects, based on current knowledge. The exposure period was also limited in time to approximately 3 months, following the recall of contaminated meat immediately on detection of the contamination.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for its assistance in compiling the data required. In particular, they are grateful to Michael Sheridan, Andrew O’Connor and Peter Maher for their time and effort. They would also like to thank An Bord Bia for the provision of meat balance data, which was kindly provided by Peter Duggan.
Funding
This work was funded by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.