Ten bisphenol analogs were abundantly found in swine and bovine urines collected from two Chinese farms: concentration profiles and risk evaluation.

Abstract

Bisphenol analogs (BPs) in livestock urine are important biomarkers to reflect the potential contaminants in food products derived from these animals. Nevertheless, little research has been done on their occurrence in farm animal urine. This work investigated ten BPs in swine and bovine urines collected from two Chinese farms. Results showed that all of these ten BPs were frequently detected in swine and bovine urines. The total mean concentration of the ten BPs (ΣBPs) in sow urines was 59.7ng/mL, which was significantly higher than that of the boar urine with a mean concentration of 37.0ng/mL (p < 0.05). On the other hand, the corresponding mean concentration of ΣBPs in dairy cattle urine was 59.6ng/mL, which was significantly higher than that of the beef cattle urine with 37.0ng/mL (p < 0.05). The respective mean concentration contribution ratios of BPA to ΣBPs in boar, sow, dairy, and beef cattle urines were only 14.9%, 21.4%, 9.0%, and 14.6%, which clearly indicated that BPA was no longer the dominant BP. The average daily urinary excretion rates of ΣBPs by boar, sow, dairy, and beef cattle were 37.0, 59.8, 167.0, and 36.8 times that of human, which suggested that swine and bovine likely encountered high dosage exposure of BPs in the two Chinese livestock farms. Our results showed that feeds and nutritional supplements as unintentionally added contaminants were the main sources of BPs to swine and bovine. As swine and bovine are important food sources for human being, part of BPs exposed to livestock eventually would enter human body via meat or milk. Therefore, quality controls of these feeds or nutritional supplements are quite important in order to guarantee welfare of livestock as well as protect health of our human beings.