Levels of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs in International Fast Food Samples

Introduction Following the so called ‘Dioxin crisis’, which took place in spring 1999 in Belgium due to the introduction of some Aroclor 1260 oil in recycling centers used as fat collecting units for animal feeding-stuffs processing, several monitoring campaigns have been carried out in order to implement a continuous control of food-stuffs quality. Many different matrices, such as milk, eggs, meat, fishes, and also animal feeding-stuffs, have been investigated. Data concerning background level of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) present in these matrices are now available and can be used to make estimation of typical dietary intakes for general population. Dietary habits can, however, be significantly different depending on which part of the population is considered. As fast food type meals become more and more important in industrialized countries, especially for the younger part of the population, there is some interest in establishing PCDD/F and PCB background levels for such types of food. Very few studies actually have reported data in this area and, as far as we know, no data are available for Belgium and surrounding countries. For these reasons, we carried out a survey of PCDD, PCDF and PCB levels some well distributed fast food items. In addition to national samples, international sampling was carried out to allow comparison of values issued from a same laboratory performing in well defined conditions.