Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzo furans (PCDFs), collectively known as dioxins are major persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are found widely all over the world. Centres for Disease Control has classified this chemical compound as toxic, stable, do not break down easily and ubiquitously presence in the environmental and food matrices. Figure 1 shows the chemical structures of dioxin and furan.

Dioxins are formed unintentionally as a by-product of industrial waste, chemical processing, incineration process and human activities such as open burning. This toxic and persistent compound then spread into the environment and tend to accumulate in the fatty and organic rich matrices such as foods. Currently, food is one of the major sources of human exposure to dioxins due to the lipophilicity nature of the compound and resistance to metabolic degradation. More than 90% of human exposure to dioxins is derived from foodstuffs. Foods, particularly dairy products, meat, oils/fats and fish have been identified as the primary immediate sources of intake of dioxins for the general population. Dioxins may form in palm oil product during processing (at the milling or refining) or through fall-out from surrounding environment that has high level of dioxin content. The palm oil industry is required to analyse for dioxins in palm oil products in order to comply with international food safety regulation. European Union (EU) has set maximum level of dioxin content as low as below 0.75 WHO TEQ pg g-1 for vegetable oil intended for EU countries. Thus, monitoring of dioxin content in palm oil products is pertinent to ensure Malaysian palm oil products are safe for human consumption and that the levels are within the maximum levels imposed by the EU and other importing countries. 

Main Research: Tuan Mohd Fauzan Tuan Omar