Monitoring of Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Pollution of Meat and Fish in Croatia

Four hundred and sixty-six fatty tissue samples of beef, pork, poultry and fish were assayed by the gas and liquid chromatography between 1992 and 1996 for chlorinated hydrocarbons: hexachlorobenzene (HCB), α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH), γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (lindane), DDT and metabolites, and total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Samples were divided into two groups, meat and fish imported to Croatia, and meat from Croatian farms and fish from the Adriatic Sea. In domestic meat, the levels of pollution with the compounds studied were considerably lower than in imported meats. The differences were most noticeable in lindane and DDT levels in beef, and those of DDT in pork. The average level of lindane in domestic and imported beef was 0.004 and 0.020 mg/kg, respectively. Domestic beef contained on the average 0.013 mg/kg and the imported beef 0.059 mg/kg DDT, respectively. While the average amount of DDT in local pork was 0.014 mg/kg, the average for imported pork was 0.041 mg/kg. Poultry lindane also showed significant differences, an average of 0.012 mg/kg in domestic and 0.034 mg/kg in imported poultry. HCB and α-HCH displayed a statistically significant difference in beef. There was an average level of 0.001 mg/kg of HCB and 0.001 mg/kg of α-HCH. However, imported beef had an average of 0.004 mg/kg of HCB and 0.002 mg/kg of α-HCH. A significant difference was also found in HCB content in poultry; domestic and imported poultry contained an average of 0.001 and 0.003 mg/kg, respectively. As regards the pollution of fish with polychlorinated biphenyls, this was considerably higher in the fish of domestic origin (average of 0.046 mg/kg) than in imported fish (average level of 0.006 mg/kg). Conversely, in both sample groups the pollution of fish with chlorinated pesticides was similar. Compared with meat and fish of the same origin and standing that were analyzed by our laboratory 10 years ago, the pollution of domestic meat and fish with clorinated hydrocarbons showed a trend of noticable decline.