Abstract:

Dietary exposure to organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), generically named organochlorine compounds (OCCs) represents nowadays an important health risk for humans, due to their endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic effects. In order to assess the potential health risk associated with raw milk consumption 10 milk samples were collected from a local market in Baia-Mare industrial area, Romania. The concentrations of OCPs and PCB congeners in these samples were determined by capillary gas chromatography with electron-capture detection, after liquid-liquid extraction. In all samples, the OCCs were below the maximum admitted concentrations set by European legislation. The most predominant compounds were 4,4’-DDE (11.5 ng/g lipid wt.), B-HCH (10.1 ng/g lipid wt.) and PCB180 (5.08 ng/g lipid wt.). Exposure assessment through milk consumption was performed for male, female and children, by calculating the estimated daily intakes (EDIs) and the hazard indices (HIs) for non-carcinogenic effects. The obtained EDIs were lower than the acceptable daily intake values and HIs were far below 1, indicating no potential health risk for the investigated population.

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