Effects of Different Conventional Cooking Methods on the Concentration of PFAS (Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl Substances) in Seafood
(2018) BIOY01 20181Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- Seafood can be a potential source of contaminants and when consumed contribute to an increased exposure of these substances. Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are contaminants accumulating in our seafood and are therefore an emerging concern. It has been suggested that cooking seafood can influence the concentration of heavy metals and other organic contaminants, however, few studies have investigated PFAS. In this study, the potential changes of PFAS concentrations as a result of boiling, frying and baking are examined. Blue swimmer crab (Portunus pelagicus), dusky flathead (Platycephalus fuscus), and school prawns (Metapenaeus macleayi) were obtained from a contaminated site; Fullerton Cove and a non contaminated site; Wallis... (More)
- Seafood can be a potential source of contaminants and when consumed contribute to an increased exposure of these substances. Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are contaminants accumulating in our seafood and are therefore an emerging concern. It has been suggested that cooking seafood can influence the concentration of heavy metals and other organic contaminants, however, few studies have investigated PFAS. In this study, the potential changes of PFAS concentrations as a result of boiling, frying and baking are examined. Blue swimmer crab (Portunus pelagicus), dusky flathead (Platycephalus fuscus), and school prawns (Metapenaeus macleayi) were obtained from a contaminated site; Fullerton Cove and a non contaminated site; Wallis Lake, NSW, Australia. Raw and cooked samples were analyzed for commonly found PFASs. Following the cooking of the seafood, changes in dominant PFAS concentrations were largely inconsistent among species and cooking treatments. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was the most frequently detected PFAS, quantified in a concentration range of <0.08- 360 ng/g wet weight in the raw tissue. PFOS concentrations in boiled school prawns effectively doubled, and the concentration increased approximately 40% when dusky flathead was baked. However, there was no significant difference of PFOS concentration when the blue swimmer crab was boiled, or when the dusky flathead was fried. The total amount of PFOS in the dusky flathead was not affected as a result of any of the cooking methods. Lower initial concentrations of PFHxS (Perfluorohexane sulfonate) and PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) showed increases, decreases and no changes in concentration after cooking treatments. In conclusion, cooking seafood is not a recommended approach to mitigate dietary exposure of PFASs. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Effects of Cooking on the Concentration of PFAS in Seafood
PFAS is a large group of man-made fluorinated substances which are used in, for example; fire extinguishing foams and several household products. Exposure of some PFASs is suspected to increase the risk of cancer, liver damage, and have a negative effect on the reproduction. These chemicals do not easily break down in the environment and can accumulate in living organisms. Therefore, a broad range of these chemicals have been detected in the environment, wildlife and humans.
One way humans can be exposed to these chemicals is through food. For example, PFAS has been detected in many seafood species. When high levels of PFAS are found in seafood, dietary advice is required.... (More) - Effects of Cooking on the Concentration of PFAS in Seafood
PFAS is a large group of man-made fluorinated substances which are used in, for example; fire extinguishing foams and several household products. Exposure of some PFASs is suspected to increase the risk of cancer, liver damage, and have a negative effect on the reproduction. These chemicals do not easily break down in the environment and can accumulate in living organisms. Therefore, a broad range of these chemicals have been detected in the environment, wildlife and humans.
One way humans can be exposed to these chemicals is through food. For example, PFAS has been detected in many seafood species. When high levels of PFAS are found in seafood, dietary advice is required. Various other contaminants in seafood, for example heavy metals, have been found to increase in concentration after the food has been cooked. However, little research has investigated the effects of cooking on PFAS concentration. To determine the human exposure of PFASs through seafood, and to be able to provide accurate dietary advice it is therefore important to determine if PFAS concentrations can change as a result of different conventional cooking methods.
To investigate this, PFAS concentrations in contaminated seafood was compared before and after cooking treatments. This was done for the common seafood species dusky flathead (Platycephalus fuscus), blue swimmer crab (Portunus pelagicus) and school prawns (Metapenaeus macleayi) which were cooked using the conventional methods of boiling, baking and frying.
The most common found PFASs were; PFOS, PFHxS and PFOA. The change in concentration of these PFAS did not show a consistent trend between the species and cooking methods (Figure 1). The concentrations of PFOS, PFHxS and PFOA doubled when school prawns were boiled. A 40% increase of PFOS concentrations was also shown when the dusky flathead was baked, but not fried. However, the total amount of PFOS in the fillets did not change. Boiled blue swimmer crab showed a decrease or no change in concentrations for these PFASs.
A decrease in concentration can be explained by a loss of PFAS to the water when boiling the seafood. However, when PFASs are not lost during the cooking procedure the concentration increases as the seafood mass decreases. As a conclusion of this result, the cooking of seafood is not a recommended approach to mitigate dietary exposure of PFASs. Another conclusion can be that dietary advice should consider the concentrations and amounts of PFAS in cooked food rather than raw seafood.
Supervisor: Olof Berglund
Bachelor Thesis: BIOK01 30hp
Biological Sciences Institution, Lund University
Queensland Alliance For Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8962462
- author
- Nilsson, Sandra
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BIOY01 20181
- year
- 2018
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 8962462
- date added to LUP
- 2018-10-26 11:21:58
- date last changed
- 2018-10-26 11:21:58
@misc{8962462,
abstract = {{Seafood can be a potential source of contaminants and when consumed contribute to an increased exposure of these substances. Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are contaminants accumulating in our seafood and are therefore an emerging concern. It has been suggested that cooking seafood can influence the concentration of heavy metals and other organic contaminants, however, few studies have investigated PFAS. In this study, the potential changes of PFAS concentrations as a result of boiling, frying and baking are examined. Blue swimmer crab (Portunus pelagicus), dusky flathead (Platycephalus fuscus), and school prawns (Metapenaeus macleayi) were obtained from a contaminated site; Fullerton Cove and a non contaminated site; Wallis Lake, NSW, Australia. Raw and cooked samples were analyzed for commonly found PFASs. Following the cooking of the seafood, changes in dominant PFAS concentrations were largely inconsistent among species and cooking treatments. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was the most frequently detected PFAS, quantified in a concentration range of <0.08- 360 ng/g wet weight in the raw tissue. PFOS concentrations in boiled school prawns effectively doubled, and the concentration increased approximately 40% when dusky flathead was baked. However, there was no significant difference of PFOS concentration when the blue swimmer crab was boiled, or when the dusky flathead was fried. The total amount of PFOS in the dusky flathead was not affected as a result of any of the cooking methods. Lower initial concentrations of PFHxS (Perfluorohexane sulfonate) and PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) showed increases, decreases and no changes in concentration after cooking treatments. In conclusion, cooking seafood is not a recommended approach to mitigate dietary exposure of PFASs.}},
author = {{Nilsson, Sandra}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Effects of Different Conventional Cooking Methods on the Concentration of PFAS (Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl Substances) in Seafood}},
year = {{2018}},
}