Mitarbeitende

Swiss and German surveys of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination of meat from suckling cow herds have revealed occasional exceedances of the regulatory maximum level (ML, EU 1259/2011 regulation). Some of these contaminations could be attributed to diffuse sources of PCBs coming from soil ingestion, which is presumably higher in grass-based feeding systems. A proper risk assessment of exceeding ML in meat relies on i) estimating cow oral exposure to PCBs (i.e., feed and soil intakes) and ii) quantify the transfer of PCBs from oral dosing to cow meat. The aims of the present work were to i) aggregate monitoring data from different databases for estimating PCB exposure and ii) quantify the corresponding PCB transfer into beef cow using a physiologically-based toxicokinetic (PBTK) model.