Dioxins in the Food Chain: Contamination Fingerprint Analysis in Breeding Hens, Hatching Eggs and Broilers

Abstract

While routine monitoring poultry meat was obtained from breeding hens, dioxins contaminations were detected in Portugal. Levels of 430.9 pg PCDD/F-WHO-TEQ/g 1 were found, which are higher than the official limits legally allowed for this matrix (1.75 pg PCDD/F-WHO-TEQ/g). To identify the magnitude of the contaminations, 60 samples were collected from poultry farms and different matrices, namely: feed, water, wood shavings from the litters, muscle of the breeding hens, hatching eggs collected in the positive farm and muscle collected from broilers farms supplied by the positive breeding farm. The comparison of the dioxins congeners profiles showed that there was a coincidence of peaks of higher relative concentrations in the wood shavings, with the peaks of the highest relative concentration in the hatching eggs, especially the relative concentrations of the congeners 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD and OCDD, which may be explained by the role of VLDLy in the delivery of triglycerides to the oocyte, where they will be used as the energy source for the developing embryo. The comparison of the dioxins congeners profiles of the breeding hens muscle with the poultry muscle, showed a coincidence of peaks of higher relative concentrations in the con- geners 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD, 1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDD, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD and OCDD which may indicate a dechlorination pathway "in vivo". Results allowed concluding that those wood shavings, improperly used as poultry litters, were certainly the source of contamination of the food chain.

PCDD/F Dioxin Profile of Treated <i>Pinus pinaster</i> Wood

“…In these episodes, contamination profiles of higher and lower concentrations in the poultry muscle and fat, seems to be very similar, being OCDD, OCDF, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF responsible for 97.4% of the total contamination [2].…”

“…The results of the contamination levels of the treated wood chips showed very low contaminations when compared with the contaminations observed in the incidents occurred in poultry contaminations, probably due to lower retentions comparing to the retentions obtained in industrial conditions. Contamination profiles of the different treatments used showed a very strong correlation R 2 …”

“…To identify the original source of contamination of the birds, all potential sources of contamination were analyzed and the results showed considerable high contamination with dioxins of the wood shavings used as bedding material in the poultry farms, indicating that these materials were the likely source of contamination of the animals [2].…”

“…In Portugal, wood treatment is performed by 23 companies and is dominated by the production of poles, beams and poles, with a production of about 84,300 cubic meters and the most widely used wood species is the maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) [2].…”

Determination of PCDD/F Levels in Wood Shavings Used as Bedding Material for Poultry Production

“…To identify the original source of contamination of these birds, all potential sources of contamination were analysed and the results showed considerable high contaminations of the wood shavings used as bedding material in the poultry farm, indicating that these materials were the likely source of contamination of the animals [3].…”