Human blood concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances resulting from consumption of contaminated meat in Korsør, Denmark

BACKGROUND: In 2021 analyses of veal revealed elevated concentrations of the per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS). Each year since 1999, the calves had consumed grass and water near a firefighting school in Korsør, Denmark, before being slaughtered and distributed to members of a local cow grazing association.

OBJECTIVES: To present serum concentrations of individuals who had consumed the veal, investigate quantitative associations between consumption and human serum concentrations of PFOS and PFHxS, and finally propose a cumulative exposure model.

METHODS: All recruited participants were offered blood tests and received an exposure assessment questionnaire. We report serum concentrations for participants who had consumed the meat and introduced an exposure model adjusted for potential confounders in regression analyses among those participants who delivered a sufficient completed questionnaire.

RESULTS: Median serum concentrations for PFOS were 48.8 ng/mL (25 and 75 percentile [25;75] 8.24 to 164.7 ng/mL), and for PFHxS 3.14 /mL ([25;75] 1.01 to 8.49 ng/mL) for 200 participants who reported consumption of the veal. In the quantitative analyses of 115 participants aged 15 or more, the major predictors of serum concentrations were amount of ingested veal and male sex. Each kg of consumed veal (in a "discounted" cumulative exposure model) explained 4 % and 2 % of the variance of PFOS and PFHxS serum concentrations, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Ingestion of contaminated meat resulted in elevated PFAS serum concentrations in a dose-response relationship. The proposed exposure model can be used as a framework for estimating blood concentrations.