Title of the dataset:
Monitoring dioxins, PCBs and flame retardants in agricultural and fishery products in 2020

Creators:
Stefan van Leeuwen, ORCID: 0000-0003-4847-0768
Caroline Dirks, ORCID: 0000-0003-0277-3878
Ron Hoogenboom, ORCID: 0000-0002-8913-5328
Antoine Nijrolder, ORCID: NVT

Related publication:
No

Description:
On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), Wageningen Food Safety Research analyses samples of agricultural products of animal origin for dioxins, PCBs, brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs). This includes meat, milk, eggs and fish.
The samples are taken at the primary production or processing stage (e.g. in slaughterhouses or raw milk collection services). For dioxin-like compounds, 350 samples are first screened with the DR CALUX® method. Samples giving a signal indicating a level above the lowest action level are regarded as suspected. These samples are further examined using GC/HRMS as confirmatory method. Concerning fish, shellfish and crustaceans, approx. 25 samples are collected at sea by research vessels, at the fish auction, or from whole-sale traders (farmed fish).

Keywords:
WUR; LNV; WFSR; RIKILT; EU-regulation; 1881/2006; monitoring; survey; agricultural product; animal origin; dioxin; PCB; brominated flame retardant; BFR; PBDE; poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substance; PFAS; organochlorine pesticide; OCP; DR CALUX; GC/HRMS; GC-HRMS; meat; liver; milk; egg; fish; shellfish; crustaceans

Spatial coverage:
The Netherlands and imported into the Netherlands

Temporal coverage:
2020

This dataset contains the following files:
2020-Monitoring.xlsx

With the following tabs:
Calux survey		Overview
Calux results		List of animal product samples used in screening
EU-monitoring		Result of the analysis of dioxins, PCBs and flame retardants (PBDEs) in primary agricultural products
Monitoring Fish		Result of the analysis of dioxins, PCBs, flame retardants (PBDEs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fish and fishery products
Addit. Dioxins-PCBs-PBDEs-PFAS	Result of the analysis of dioxins, PCBs, flame retardants (PBDEs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in sheep liver
Additional PFAS		Result of the analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in primary agricultural products


Explanation of variables:
See datafile

Methods, materials and software:
	The samples are taken at the primary production or processing stage (e.g. in slaughterhouses or raw milk collection services). For dioxin-like compounds, 350 samples are first screened with the DR CALUX® method. Samples giving a signal indicating a level above the lowest action level are regarded as suspected. These samples are further examined using GC/HRMS as confirmatory method. Concerning fish, shellfish and crustaceans, approx. 25 samples are collected at sea by research vessels, at the fish auction, or from whole-sale traders (farmed fish).
	Background concentrations:
	Additionally, within the framework of the EU monitoring of background levels of dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs and non-dioxin-like PCBs in foodstuffs, each year approximately 100 samples of foodstuffs (meat, milk and eggs) are examined with GC/HRMS. These samples are randomly chosen from the samples that are screened with the DR CALUX® method.
	In these samples, also brominated flame retardants (BFRs), i.e. polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are analysed. The fish, shellfish and crustaceans monitoring focusses on dioxins and PCBs, BFRs (PBDEs and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs)), PFASs and organochlorine pesticides. Apart from monitoring, surveys are performed to zoom in on a specific product if such need becomes apparent. 
	Legislation:
	For the EU-regulation for action and maximum levels for dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs and non-dioxin-like PCBs in foodstuffs see Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006. For BFRs and PFASs there are no limits.
	Note: Eggs are pooled per 12 from an egg carton, with the reason to extract enough fat out of the sample material to be able to perform the analysis.

This dataset is published under the CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) license.
This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.