Chickens’ eggs and the livers of farm animals as sources of perfluoroalkyl substances

Fig 1.

Fig 2.

Fig 3.

Analytes of interest in chickens’ eggs and farm animals’ livers and the limit of quantification (LOQ) and measurement uncertainty (MU) validation parameters

Compound	Acronym	LOQ in meat (μg/kg w.w.)	LOQ in eggs(μg/kg w.w.)	MU in meat (%)	MU in eggs (%)
perfluorobutanesulfonic acid	PFBS	0.001	0.003	12	18
perfluorohexanoic acid	PFHxA	0.008	0.033	14	14
perfluoroheptanoic acid	PFHpA	0.013	0.048	18	11
perfluorohexanesulfonic acid	PFHxS	0.005	0.015	13	21
perfluorooctanoic acid	PFOA	0.016	0.032	16	26
perfluorononanoic acid	PFNA	0.010	0.020	10	19
linear perfluorooctanesulfonic acid	L-PFOS	0.009	0.017	27	25
branched perfluorooctanesulfonic acid	Br-PFOS	0.009	0.017	27	25
perfluorodecanoic acid	PFDA	0.014	0.027	15	11
perfluoropentanesulfonic acid	PFPeS	0.005	0.009	13	16
perfluoroheptanesulfonic acid	PFHpS	0.003	0.016	31	32
perfluoroundecanoic acid	PFUdA	0.013	0.024	24	32
perfluorododecanoic acid	PFDoA	0.011	0.028	31	25

Levels of the remaining PFASs determined in chickens’ eggs and cows’, chickens’ and horses’ livers (μg/kg)

Compound		Concentration (μg/kg wet weight) in livers of:			Concentration (μg/kg) in chickens’ eggs
		Cows	Chickens	Horses
PFHxA	mean	<LOQ	<LOQ	<LOQ	<LOQ
	median	-	-	-	-
	range	-	-	-	-
PFHpA	mean	<LOQ	<LOQ	<LOQ	<LOQ
	median	-	-	-	-
	range	-	-	-	-
PFDA	mean	0.18	0.12	0.032	<LOQ
	median	0.084	0.12	0.028	-
	range	<LOQ–0.62	<LOQ–0.12	<LOQ–0.045	-
PFUnDA	mean	0.083	0.031	0.032	0.030
	median	0.032	0.031	0.029	0.030
	range	LOQ–0.35	<LOQ–0.040	<LOQ–0.041	<LOQ–0.030
PFDoA	mean	0.031	0.064	0.017	<LOQ
	median	0.022	0.064	0.017	-
	range	<LOQ–0.066	<LOQ–0.064	<LOQ–0.020	-
PFBS	mean	0.0037	0.0014	0.0019	<LOQ
	median	0.0037	0.0014	0.0019	-
	range	<LOQ–0.0011	<LOQ–0.0011	<LOQ–0.0019	-
PFPeS	mean	<LOQ	<LOQ	<LOQ	<LOQ
	median	-	-	-	-
	range	-	-	-	-
PFHpS	mean	0.0057	0.0076	0.0034	<LOQ
	median	0.0054	0.0076	0.0034	-
	range	<LOQ–0.0073	<LOQ–0.010	<LOQ–0.0036	-

Levels of total perfluorooctanesulphonic acid (∑PFOS), branched (Br-) PFOS, linear (L-) PFOS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorohexanesulphonic acid (PFHxS) determined in chickens’ eggs and cows’, chickens’ and horses’ livers

Compound		Concentration in liver (μg/kg wet weight)			Concentration in chickens’ eggs(μg/kg)	ML in Commission Regulation 2023/915
		Cows’	Chickens’	Horses’
∑PFOS	mean	0.33	0.090	0.11	0.081
	median	0.22	0.090	0.13	0.081	liver 6.0
	range	<LOQ–0.90	<LOQ–0.15	<LOQ–0.15	<LOQ–0095	eggs 1.0
Br-PFOS	mean	0.11	0.029	0.021	<LOQ
	median	0.046	0.029	0.023	-	-
	range	<LOQ–0.32	<LOQ–0.29	<LOQ–0.29	-
L-PFOS	mean	0.24	0.073	0.098	0.081
	median	0.17	0.076	0.10	0.081	-
	range	<LOQ–0.73	<LOQ–0.13	<LOQ–0.13	<LOQ–0095
PFOA	mean	0.032	0.17	<LOQ	<LOQ
	median	0.032	0.17	-	-	liver 0.70
	range	<LOQ–0.032	<LOQ–0.17	-	-	eggs 0.30
PFNA	mean	0.21	0.10	0.028	0.031
	median	0.086	0.10	0.028	0.031	liver 0.40
	range	<LOQ–0.40	<LOQ–0.10	<LOQ–0.033	<LOQ–0.031	eggs 0.70
PFHxS	mean	<LOQ	0.047	<LOQ	<LOQ	liver 0.50
	median	-	0.0047	-	-	eggs 0.30
	range	-	<LOQ–0.047	-	-
LB∑4 PFAS	mean	0.52	0.17	0.13	0.096	liver 8.0
	median	0.26	0.17	0.14	0.096	eggs 1.70
	range	0.11–1.8	0.000–0.26	0.04–0.18	0.094–0.097