10. Occurrence and Dietary Intake of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins and Dibenzofurans in Malaysia

A total of 126 food samples (seafood, meat and dairy products) from Malaysia were analyzed for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs). The concentration of PCDD/Fs ranged from 0.13 to 0.23 pg WHO₀₅-TEQ g⁻¹ fw (mean 0.137 pg WHO₀₅-TEQ g⁻¹ fw) was found in these samples. According to the food consumption data from Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS)—Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment Programme by World Health Organization, the dietary exposure to PCDD/F from seafood, meat and dairy products for general population in Malaysia was of 0.0364, 0.128 and 0.412 pg WHO₀₅-TEQ kg⁻¹ bw d⁻¹, respectively. However, the exposure was higher in seafood (0.249 pg WHO₀₅-TEQ kg⁻¹ bw d⁻¹) and meat (0.225 pg WHO₀₅-TEQ kg⁻¹ bw d⁻¹) when the data was estimated using the Malaysian food consumption statistics. Lower exposure was observed in dairy products with the estimation of 0.241 pg WHO₀₅-TEQ kg⁻¹ bw d⁻¹. Overall, these dietary exposure estimations were much lower than the tolerable daily intake (TDI) as recommended by World Health Organization. Thus, it is suggested that the dietary exposure to PCDD/F does not represent a risk for human health in Malaysia.