Occurrence of perfluoroalkyl substances in cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk – dietary intake and risk assessment

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Milk from cows, goats and sheep was analysed in terms of content of fourteen perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Material and Methods Altogether, 73 milk samples from cows (n = 38), goats (n = 20) and sheep (n = 15) were collected from various regions of Poland. Concentrations of analytes were determined using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results The lower-bound sum of four PFAS (∑4 PFASs) concentrations (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid) were highest in sheep’s (0.0055 μg/kg), lower in goat’s (0.0046 μg/kg), and lowest in cow’s milk (0.0008 μg/kg). Goat’s and sheep’s milk was statistically significantly more contaminated than cow’s milk. None of the samples exceeded the indicative values set by Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/1431, and even the maximum detected concentrations were an order of magnitude lower. The most frequently detected was linear PFOS, which was found in 33%, 76% and 93% of cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk samples, respectively. Based on mean upper-bound ∑4 PFAS concentrations and average milk consumption, the estimated intake of ∑4 PFASs ranged from 0.153 to 0.266 ng/kg body weight (b.w.) for children and from 0.050 to 0.88 ng/kg b.w. for adults, which indicates that exposure is very low and is merely <7% of the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for children and <2% of the TWI for adults. Conclusion Regardless of the milk type, the intake of PFASs via consumption of Polish milk does not contribute significantly to the overall PFAS intake of either adults or children.