Preliminary data on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in cows' milk from Bosnia and Herzegovina market

Abstract

In this work, both farm milk samples (n=3), as well as samples of milk from Bosnia and Herzegovina market (n=7), were analyzed to quantify the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls. The PCB content (as Aroclor 1254) was determined in the fat extracts using the PCB ELISA kit, according to the procedure provided by the manufacturer. The total PCB concentrations (as Aroclor 1254) in individual milk sample ranged from <LoD to 787.74 µg/kg lipid weight (l.w.). The calculated Ʃ6PCB were ranged from <LoD to 187.72 µg/kg l.w. In one out of ten analyzed samples the presence of PCB higher than maximum limit (ML) was found. However, the absorbance measured for this sample is out of the linear range. In this case the sample can be considered as a suspect and should be analyzed with the quantitative confirmatory method. In other milk samples the concentration of PCB was in the acceptable range, and far below the ML.

Keywords

• polychlorinated byphenils
• Aroclor1254
• ELISA
• milk