Level and characteristics of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in feed and feed additives

Feed security is a prerequisite for safe animal food products. In this study, 13 groups of feed and feed ingredients, totaling 2067 samples, were collected in the period of 2011 to 2014 from China. The highest mean level of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) was found in fish meals and shell powders, with a concentration of 60.35ng/kg, followed by mineral origin materials. In terms of the toxicity equivalent concentration, the fish oil group showed the highest PCDD/F levels because of their bio-accumulation through the aquatic food chain, with an average concentration of 1.26ng WHO-TEQ/kg, while the lowest level was observed in compound feed for chickens and pigs, with an average value of 0.16ng WHO-TEQ/kg. OCDD and OCDF were the predominant congeners in all groups except fish oils, in which the primary congeners were 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF and 2,3,7,8-TCDF. For zinc chloride samples, different from other zinc-based compound samples, the main congeners were 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF (17%), 1,2,3,4,7,8,9-HpCDF (15%), 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDF (12%) and OCDF (30%). Considering toxicity equivalency factors, the dominant congeners were 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF, 1, 2,3,4,7,8-HxCDF, 2,3,7,8-TCDF and 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD, and the contribution to the total TEQ was 29%, 16%, 14% and 12%, respectively. Overall, 2.1% (43 out of 2067) of all the analyzed samples exceeded the different individual 'European Union maximum limited levels for PCDD/Fs. This study is beneficial for the determination of the status of contamination levels of feed and feed ingredients.