Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in US meat and poultry: 2012–13 levels, trends and estimated consumer exposures

ABSTRACT

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of brominated flame retardants whose use has contaminated foods and caused subsequent human exposures. To address the issue of possible human exposure, samples from a 2012–13 US meat and poultry (beef, pork, chicken, turkey) study were analysed for seven PBDEs. The mean summed concentrations of the seven BDE congeners (ΣPBDE) from beef, pork, chicken and turkey were 0.40, 0.36, 0.19, and 0.76 ng g^–1 lipid weight (lw). The range of ΣPBDEs for all meat classes was 0.01–15.78 ng g^–1 lw. A comparison of this study with a 2007–08 study revealed a decline in the median ΣPBDEs for all four meat classes, a reduction of 25.9% to 70.0%, with pork, chicken and turkey PBDE residues being statistically lower relative to the 2007–08 study. BDEs 47 and 99 contributed the most to the ΣPBDE concentrations, indicating likely animal exposures to the penta-BDE formulation. Based on the reported data an estimate of US consumer daily intake of PBDEs from meat and poultry was 6.42 ng day^–1.

KEYWORDS:

• PBDEs
• food
• meat
• poultry
• exposure
• United States
• dietary intake

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Andrew Thompson, Margaret Lorentzsen, Lyndsi Vander Wal, Dee Ellig, Theresa Fakler, Kelsey Heiberg, Malinda Scherf and Nate Grosz for help with sample processing, extraction and analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The use of trade, firm or corporation names in this paper is for the information and convenience of readers. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Agricultural Research Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. The USDA is an equal-opportunity provider, employer and lender. The author declares no competing financial interest.