Consumption of food of animal origin accounts for 90% of the total human exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are listed as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). In the case of bovine meat, former Swiss monitoring plans focusing on suckling cow production systems recorded 5% missing conformity. Understand, assess and manage the risk of entry of POPs into suckling cow and calf meat is therefore mandatory to ensure human health and the sustainability of these production systems. This study aims to better understand the fate of PCBs from grass and soil oral intake to cows and their calves over the end of gestation as well as full lactation and assess depuration kinetics as a counter-measure.
