Nd. Wilson et al., THE EFFECT OF COOKING PRACTICES ON THE CONCENTRATION OF DDT AND PCB COMPOUNDS IN THE EDIBLE TISSUE OF FISH, Journal of exposure analysis and environmental epidemiology, 8(3), 1998, pp. 423-440
Chemical contaminants iii fish can be art important source of human ex
posure to chemicals. Assessments of the fish consumption pathway need
to adjust the concentrations of the chemical to account for reductions
in 1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dichloroethane (DDD), dichlorodiphenyl
dichloroethylene (DDE), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) (her
ein collectively referred to as total DDT or tDDT) and polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) that can occur during cooking. The results of this a
nalysis indicate that baking, frying, broiling, boiling, smoking, and
microwaving all effectively reduce the concentrations of tDDT and PCBs
in fish tissue. Average reductions in tDDT ranged from 16 to 55% depe
nding on the cooking method. Similar reductions in PCBs ranged from 26
to 68%. An evaluation of the factors influencing the degree of cookin
g loss indicated that neither initial chemical mass in the raw fillet,
fillet lipid content, nor skin removal were significant predictors of
the percent reduction in tDDT or PCB.