For the past three decades, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has conducted surveys of the domestic meat supply every 5 years to determine the temporal trends and current levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and non-ortho-polychlorinated biphenyls (no-PCBs), referred to as dioxins. In the 2023-2024 dioxin survey, fat samples from beef (n = 145) and pork (n = 143) along with Siluriform muscle (n = 53) were collected from U.S. slaughter facilities and analysed for 17 PCDD/Fs and 3 no-PCBs. Toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) from 2005 were utilised to calculate the sum-toxic equivalency (sum-TEQ) for all samples for comparison to previous surveys. The sum-TEQs ranged from non-detect (nd) to 2.75 pg TEQ/g lipid for the current survey. Beef, pork, and Siluriform median sum-TEQs (nd = ½ LOD) were 0.150, 0.032, and 0.076 pg TEQ/g lipid or wet weight for Siluriformes, respectively. Declining trends in median concentrations are observed for the surveys over the last 30 years. Statistical analysis of this survey compared to the previous survey, shows significant decreases (p no-PCB for all classes. These temporal declines provide evidence that measures for minimisation of PCDD/F and no-PCB release in meat products have been working.
Lupton et al. (2026) studied this question.