Perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs) in home and commercially produced chicken eggs from the Netherlands and Greece

Dietary intake is a major route of human exposure to perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs). However, the available information on PFAS levels in food, including chicken eggs, is limited. In the present study, home produced and commercially produced eggs (organic, battery and free range eggs) were collected from the Netherlands (n = 95) and Greece (n = 76). The egg yolks were analysed for 11 PFASs by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry using isotope dilution. PFAS levels in yolk were higher in home produced eggs from the Netherlands (median 3.1, range <LOQ - 31.2 ng g-1) and Greece (median 1.1, range <LOQ - 15.0 ng g-1) compared to the eggs collected from supermarkets. In these eggs, all PFAS levels were below the LOQ of 0.5 ng g-1, except for a small amount of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in 1 sample in each country (1.1 ng g-1 and 0.9 ng g-1 for the Netherlands and Greece respectively).PFOS was the predominant PFAS, making up on average 85% of ∑PFASs. The highest PFOS concentration was detected in a Dutch home produced egg sample (24.8 ng g-1). The contamination pattern was similar in both countries with the long-chain PFASs (C ≥ 8) being most frequently detected, while short-chain PFASs were rarely found. The most likely cause of the contamination of home produced eggs is ingestion of soil through pecking. Although regular consumption of home produced eggs will lead to an increased PFOS exposure, it is not expected that it will lead to exceedance of the tolerable daily intake established by EFSA

Biomarkers of Exposure in Environment-wide Association Studies – opportunities to decode the Exposome using Human Biomonitoring data

Abstract Background The European Union's 7th Framework Programme (EU's FP7) project HEALS – Health and Environment-wide Associations based on Large Population Surveys – aims a refinement of the methodology to elucidate the human exposome. Human biomonitoring (HBM) provides a valuable tool for understanding the magnitude of human exposure from all pathways and sources. However, availability of specific biomarkers of exposure (BoE) is limited. Objectives The objective was to summarize the availability of BoEs for a broad range of environmental stressors and exposure determinants and corresponding reference and exposure limit values and biomonitoring equivalents useful for unraveling the exposome using the framework of environment-wide association studies (EWAS). Methods In a face-to-face group discussion, scope, content, and structure of the HEALS deliverable “Guidelines for appropriate BoE selection for EWAS studies” were determined. An expert-driven, distributed, narrative review process involving around 30 individuals of the HEALS consortium made it possible to include extensive information targeted towards the specific characteristics of various environmental stressors and exposure determinants. From the resulting 265 page report, targeted information about BoE, corresponding reference values (e.g., 95th percentile or measures of central tendency), exposure limit values (e.g., the German HBM I and II values) and biomonitoring equivalents (BEs) were summarized and updated. Results 64 individual biological, chemical, physical, psychological and social environmental stressors or exposure determinants were included to fulfil the requirements of EWAS. The list of available BoEs is extensive with a number of 135 ; however, 12 of the stressors and exposure determinants considered do not leave any measurable specific substance in accessible body specimens. Opportunities to estimate the internal exposure stressors not (yet) detectable in human specimens were discussed. Conclusions Data about internal exposures are useful to decode the exposome. The paper provides extensive information for EWAS. Information included serves as a guideline – snapshot in time without any claim to comprehensiveness – to interpret HBM data and offers opportunities to collect information about the internal exposure of stressors if no specific BoE is available