Persistent organic pollutants in food items collected in Hong Kong

This study aims to investigate levels of POPs in meat, edible oils, nuts, milk and wine collected from Hong Kong. Naphthalene, pp-DDE, beta-, gamma-HCH and PBDE 47 were detected in most of the food items. Goose liver accumulated the highest PAHs (47.9 ng g−1 wet wt), DDTs (25.6), HCHs (13.0), PCBs (4.17), PBDEs (468 pg g−1 wet wt) among all the selected food. Meat and nut groups had significant (p < 0.01 or 0.05) correlations between lipid contents and concentrations of PAHs (meat: r = 0.878), HCHs (meat: r = 0.753), DDTs (meat: r = 0.937; nuts: r = 0.968) and PCBs (meat: r = 0.832; nut: r = 0.946). The concentrations of DDTs, HCHs and PCBs in vegetable oil were lower, but HCHs in fish oil were higher, when compared with other countries. The concentrations of PAHs, DDTs, PCBs and PBDEs in food tested in the present study were all below various safety guidelines.

Research highlights
► POPs levels in meat, edible oils, nuts, milk and wine from Hong Kong were studied.
► Goose liver had highest PAHs, DDTs, HCHs, PCBs, PBDEs among all selected food.
► Meat and nut groups had +’ve correlations between lipid contents and POPs levels.
► PAHs, DDTs, PCBs and PBDEs levels in food were all below safety guidelines.