Terrestrial animal livers as a source of PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PBDEs in the diet

The livers of terrestrial animals are an important source of vitamins and minerals, but with the liver being the major filtering and detoxifying organ, it retains xenobiotic material, especially persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The aim of the study was human health risk assessment related to the presence of certain POPs, namely polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in terrestrial animals' livers. HRGC-HRMS was used to determine analyte concentrations in 99 liver samples of chicken, pork, beef, and mutton livers obtained from Polish farms. The ovine livers were the most contam-inated by IPCDD/F/dl-PCBs (0.06-2.21 pg WHO-TEQ g-1 wet weight), Indl-PCBs (0.036-1.54 ng g-1 wet weight) and IPBDEs (0.21-2.27 ng g-1 wet weight). Samples were found of ovine and pork livers that exceeded the maximum concentration limits established for PCDD/Fs. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there were statistical differences between regions in the concentrations of the IPCDD/Fs and IPCDD/F-PCBs, but none in those of the Idl-PCBs, Indl-PCBs or IPBDEs. According to Dunnett's test results, ovine liver samples from the Podlaskie province contained fewer IPCDD/F than those from the Dolnoslaskie (p < 0.027) and Malopolskie (p < 0.0342) voivodeships. Taking into account PCDD/F contents and Tolerable Weekly Intake (2 pg WHO-TEQ/kg BW) (TWI2018), the lowest risk was asso-ciated with chicken liver consumption (TWI up to 11 % in the 95th percentile), pork (62 %) and bovine (92 %) livers should be eaten in limited amounts for risk avoidance, while mutton liver (400 %) should not be eaten at all. Addition-ally, there is no risk of ingestion of a harmful amount of PBDEs associated with consumption of the livers of terrestrial animals from Poland based on the margin of exposure values (>15).