Investigation on the presence of Dioxins in the Sicilian Sheep’s milk

Abstract

Our studies were conducted in 2016 and several sicilian sheep farms were involved. The goal of this research was to evaluate the possible use of sheep as a "sentinel" body to be used as a biological indicator for environmental biomonitoring of dioxins. For the determination of dioxins in sheep's milk was used a method on high-resolution gas chromatography along with a high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS) in order to evaluate the existence of dioxins with concentrations exceeding the limits imposed by the EC Regulation 1881/2006. A total of 200 samples were analyzed, of which 14 samples exceeded the limits imposed by the EC Regulation 1881/2006: 3.0 pg/g fat sum of dioxins (WHO.PCDD/F-TEQ). It is conceivable that the proximity to high anthropization areas and industrialization, may have a positive influence on the propagation of dioxins in the environment having been detected values exceeding the allowed limit. The samples with low dioxin concentrations were analyzed, with values not exceeding the prescribed limit.