Exposure assessment of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in pasteurised bovine milk using probabilistic modelling

Quantitative exposure assessment is a useful technique to investigate the risk from contaminants in the food chain. The objective of this study was to develop a probabilistic exposure assessment model for dioxins (PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like PCBs (DL-PCBs) in pasteurised bovine milk. Mean dioxins and DL-PCBs (non-ortho and mono-ortho PCBs) concentrations (pg WHO-TEQ g−1) in bovine milk were estimated as 0.06 ± 0.07 pg WHO-TEQ g−1 for dioxins and 0.08 ± 0.07 pg WHO-TEQ g−1 for DL-PCBs using Monte Carlo simulation. The simulated model estimated mean exposure for dioxins was 0.19 ± 0.29 pg WHO-TEQ kg−1 bw d−1 and 0.14 ± 0.22 pg WHO-TEQ kg−1 bw d−1 and for DL-PCBs was 0.25 ± 0.30 pg WHO-TEQ kg−1 bw d−1 and 0.19 ± 0.22 pg WHO-TEQ kg−1 bw d−1 for men and women, respectively. This study showed that the mean dioxins and DL-PCBs exposure from consumption of pasteurised bovine milk is below the provisional maximum tolerable monthly intake of 70 pg TEQ kg−1 bw month−1 (equivalent of 2.3 pg TEQ kg−1 bw d−1) recommended by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (JECFA). Results from this study also showed that the estimated dioxins and DL-PCBs concentration in pasteurised bovine milk is comparable to those reported in previous studies.