Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Korean seafood: An indicator of coastal pollution and potential health effects on humans

Abstract

High resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HRGC-HRMS) was used to analyze PCB contamination of 18 fish, 9 invertebrate and 5 processed seafood samples. The sum of 50 PCB congeners in seafood ranged from 51-38,191 pg/g wet weight, in the following order: fish> processed food>invertebrates. However, processed seafood showed the maximum toxic equivalents (pg TEQ/g wet wt.) of 55, followed by invertebrates and fish with 40 and 12. Though fish species showed the lowest TEQ values, they were derived mostly from 'dioxin like' non-ortho chlorine-substituted congeners (the high values in the other items were derived from high mono-ortho chlorine-substituted PCBs). In four fish species, viz. herring, Gizzard shad, Sailfin sandfish, and Atka mackerel, the levels exceeded the EPA's recommended screening value for human consumption, based on chronic toxiticity test.