Polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations and estimated intakes in fish oil supplements on the Japanese market

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic organic contaminants that are widespread in the environment. There are 209 PCB congeners. Fish oil produced from marine fish is widely used as a health supplement. PCB contamination of fish oil is of concern. We determined the concentrations of all 209 PCB congeners in commercially available fish oil supplements from Japan and estimated PCB intakes for humans consuming the supplements. We determined the concentrations of non-dioxin-like PCBs separately. The total PCB concentrations in 37 fish oil supplements purchased in Japan were 0.024–19 ng/g whole weight and the non-dioxin-like PCB concentration range was also 0.024–19 ng/g whole weight. The total PCB intakes calculated for a 50 kg human consuming the supplements were 0.039–51 ng/day (0.00078-1.0 ng/(kg body weight per day)) and the non-dioxin-like PCB intake range was also 0.039–51 ng/day (0.00078-1.0 ng/(kg body weight per day)). The total PCB intakes were much lower than the tolerable daily intake of 20 ng/(kg body weight per day) recommended by the WHO. The results indicated that PCBs in the fish oil supplements pose acceptable risks to humans consuming the fish oil supplements daily.