Surprising findings following a Belgian food contamination with polychlorobiphenyls and dioxins

We found that 12.1% of Belgian export meat samples from chicken or pork, un related to the PCB/dioxin crisis from 1999, contained more than 50 ng polyc hlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)/g fat and th at 6.5% of samples contain more th an 20 ng/g fat for the sum of 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) and its metabolites. Part of this background contamination stems fro m imported animal feed ingredients (fish flour and grains), sometimes conta minated by recent use of DDT, as call be deduced from the ratio between DDT and its main metabolite, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl) ethylene (DD E). However, after comparing PCB concentrations in fish flour and grains wi th those found in meat, we suggest that the high concentrations stem from r ecycled fat. This is the first paper describing background concentrations o f PCBs in animal meat from Belgium.