Determination of persistent organic pollutants in cow’s milk from national production by means of gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS)

<span>Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic chemicals capable of persisting in the environment, being transported over long distances, bioaccumulating and biomagnifying in ecosystems. The harmful effects of these compounds on the environment and the health of living beings are of concern. In particular, humans can come into contact with POPs when consuming contaminated food of animal origin with a high fat content. In the Dominican Republic these compounds have been widely used and generated. However, the levels of POP exposure to which the population is exposed are unknown. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the presence of 34 POPs in five main brands of nationally produced cow’s milk. The samples were prepared using the QuEChERS extraction method and the analytical technique used was GC/MS. The results obtained indicated that no POPs were present in the samples. The results obtained indicated that there is no presence of the POPs evaluated in any of the cow’s milk samples, which suggests that their consumption does not represent a threat to the health of consumers. In addition, this study contributes to the knowledge on the evaluation of POPs in the Dominican Republic.</span>