Micropollutants and chemical residues in organic and conventional meat

- A reference study investigating chemical contaminants in organic and conventional meats.
- A robust sampling strategy involving >250 organic and conventional meat samples.
- Significant differences in POPs and in inorganics levels were observed between types of farming.
- Antimicrobials and pesticides residues were not detected in meat samples.
- Organic meat production overall shows higher levels of environmental contamination.

The chemical contamination levels of both conventional and organic meats were assessed. The objective was to provide occurrence data in a context of chronic exposure. Environmental contaminants (17 polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/dibenzofurans, 18 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 3 hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) isomers, 6 mycotoxins, 6 inorganic compounds) together with chemical residues arising from production inputs (75 antimicrobials, 10 coccidiostats and 121 pesticides) have been selected as relevant compounds. A dedicated sampling strategy, representative of the French production allowed quantification of a large sample set (n = 266) including both conventional (n = 139) and organic (n = 127) raw meat from three animal species (bovine, porcine, poultry). While contamination levels below regulatory limits were measured in all the samples, significant differences were observed between both species and types of farming. Several environmental contaminants (Dioxins, PCBs, HBCD, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, As) were measured at significantly higher levels in organic samples.

58