Occurrence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in foodstuffs in Italy and implications for human exposure

- PBDEs were present in all foodstuff groups analysed.
- Penta-BDE mixture was observed in almost all foodstuff groups.
- BDE-209 was the most abundant congener.
- Data obtained are consistent with other studies on commercial food.
- Human exposure was evaluated and data suggested that the cancer risk is low.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were determined in various foodstuffs in Italy and the dietary intake was estimated. PBDEs were detected in all analysed samples at concentrations that spanned over five orders of magnitude. The most abundant congeners were the BDE-209, followed by BDE-47 and BDE-99. Fish oil and milk samples showed the highest PBDE concentrations among all samples. The daily dietary intake values were found to be in good agreement or higher to literature values, impacted mainly from the contribution of the analysed dairy products. The cancer risk values estimated for BDE-209 indicated that this specific risk associated with the studied foodstuffs is limited.Italy is one of the world-leading countries in the production of furniture and clothes and has extremely developed medium enterprise industrial sector, where PBDEs were historically used suggesting that their occurrence may be linked to these activities.