Determination of PCDD/F Levels in Wood Shavings Used as Bedding Material for Poultry Production

Abstract

During 2006 and 2011, following the implementation of dioxin contamination monitoring in poultry meat, levels higher than legally allowed in meat from poultry slaughtered for human consumption, were found. The wood shavings used as bedding material in the poultry farm showed considerable high contaminations, indicating that these materials were the likely source of contamination of the animals. Wood shavings samples (n = 23), used as poultry litters in intensive farms of broilers, were analysed. In both episodes, contamination profiles of higher and lower concentrations, seem to be very similar, being OCDD, OCDF, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF responsible for 97.4 % of the total contamination. The present work describes the analytical adapted , used methodology and the specific clean - up procedures, which revealed that recoveries of 13 C 12 -Labelled compounds added to the wood shavings samples ranged from 71.3% to 86.3%.