Dietary exposure to non-dioxin-like PCBs of the Hong Kong adult population from a total diet study

Abstract

ABSTRACTDietary exposure of Hong Kong adults to the sum of the six indicator PCBs (Σ6 PCBs; PCB 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, and 180) was estimated in this study using the Total Diet Study (TDS) approach. Seventy one commonly-consumed food items of animal origin were sampled in four seasons and prepared as consumed in 2010–2011. The results showed that the main dietary source of Σ6 PCBs to the adult population was ‘fish, seafood and their products’ which accounted for 84.3% of the total exposure. About 50% of the total exposure was contributed by four fish species: salmon (cooked salmon and salmon sashimi, 19.9%), mandarin fish (14.7%), pomfret fish (8.5%) and yellow croaker (7.5%). Salmon was found to contain the highest mean level of Σ6 PCBs of 5.7 ng g−1 fresh weight at upper bound estimation, ranging from 4.4 to 6.3 ng g−1. The lower bound and upper bound exposure estimates of Ʃ6 PCBs to the average consumer of the population were found to be 0.68 and 1.38 ng kg−1 body weight day−1 respectively while for high consumers, the lower bound and upper bound exposure estimates were 3.08 and 3.84 ng kg−1 body weight day−1 respectively. In addition, the dietary exposures to individual indicator PCB congeners were also estimated.