[Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in food. The situation in the Federal Republic of Germany (author's transl)].

In a coordinated research program of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT), a screening study was carried out with representative samples. In spite of rather large ranges of PCB concentrations, the most important food-stuffs show clearly defined clusters with mean values of approx. 0.005 microgram/g in low fat food components of plant origin such as cereals or potatoes, approx. 0.05 microgram/g in vegetable fats, approx. 0.3 microgram/g in fat from milk, butter and cheese, approx. 0.15 microgram/g in animal fat, approx. 0.03 in chicken eggs and approx. 10 microgram/g in fish fat. Considering the mean diet in the FRG, a daily PCB intake of about 29 microgram from animal fat and of 6 microgram from the other food-stuffs results. The total intake of about 35 microgram per day and capita is almost the same as the figure conditionally suggested by the WHO as the acceptable daily HCB (hexachlorobenzene) intake.