Dioxin and PCB content of Styrian pork and chicken fat

Chemical compounds of the PCDD/DF and PCB classes are environmental toxins with similar biological and toxicological properties. Due to their lipophil ic properties and long half-lives they accumulate in particular in food of animal origin. In order to determine the background contamination of Styria n pork and chicken meat, fat tissue samples of the respective animal specie s were taken in different Styrian regions and analysed for the presence of the above substances. 89.4% of pork fat samples (n = 19) and 80% of chicken fat samples (n = 5) showed no traces of PCDD/DF. One pork fat sample showe d 7.5 pg TEQ PCDD/DF per g fat, in all other samples the corresponding valu e was less than 2 pg/g fat. PCBs were detected in 24.4% of pork fat and 20% of chicken fat sam ples. Th e maximum value obtained was 20.7 ng PCB/g fat.