Determination of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in livestock feeds

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in livestock feeds (calf starter, dairy cattle, fattening cattle, calf growth, lamb starter, lamb growth, dairy sheep, fattening sheep, chick, broiler and layer hen feeds) and feed raw materials (wheat, cottonseed pulp, wheat bran, maize, barley, lentil, wheat straw, bean straw, pea straw and meadow grass). PFOA and PFOS concentrations of 30 livestock feeds, 24 raw feed materials, 9 poultry feeds and 10 water samples were determined by LC-MS/MS. The findings indicated that all the evaluated livestock feeds and feed materials contain perfluorinated compounds. Poultry, cattle, feed raw materials and sheep feed samples were examined for PFOA concentrations and for PFOS concentrations, cattle, poultry, sheep and feed raw materials samples were examined. The highest PFOA concentrations were found in layer hen feed (7.55 μg/kg), dairy cattle feed (6.75 μg/kg) and fattening cattle feed (6.53 μg/kg) respectively. The highest PFOS levels were found in layer hen feed (0.882 μg/kg), calf feed (0.833 μg/kg) and dairy sheep feed (0.830 μg/kg).

Keywords: Feed, feed raw materials, LC-MS/MS, perfluorinated compound