Despite the growing interest in PCNs and the dioxin-like toxicity exhibited by a number of congeners, a comprehensive assessment of their contribution to the cocktail of dioxin-like contaminants is still lacking. To address such a shortcoming, this study investigated the PCN contamination in foodstuffs recently acquired in France, together with that of the regulatory polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/furans (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCNs were ubiquitous at levels (∑70 PCNs = 2.5-150 pg g-1 wet weight) similar to those reported in other countries, with maximum concentrations observed in fish and fishery products from the North-East Atlantic Ocean. Their congener patterns further suggested unintentional releases of PCNs, while those of the other foodstuffs were correlated to the historical PCN profiles. Low risk from dietary exposure was estimated (∑70 PCNs-EDIs of 60-360 pg kg-1 bw d-1, ∑24 PCNs-TEQ-EDIs of 8 × 10-3-2.2 × 10-2 pg TEQ kg-1 bw d-1), with milk and dairy products being the highest contributors, followed by meat and meat products. Finally, the rather high contributions of PCNs to the total PCNs+PCDD/Fs+PCBs concentrations (0.9-50%, average of 9%) and the toxic equivalents (0.2-24%, average of 5%) show that these substances are not minor components of the PCNs+PCDD/Fs+PCBs cocktail.
Keywords: Dietary Exposure; Dioxin-like toxicity; Food; Occurrence; Polychlorinated Naphthalenes.