NUOVI CONTAMINANTI EMERGENTI: I COMPOSTI PERFLUORURATI

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are fully fluorinated man-made chemicals with properties that make them useful in different industrial and household applications. They have been manufactured for over 50 years and used as surfactants and surface protectors in carpets, textiles, leather, paper product, fire-fighting, foams, cosmetics, insecticides and food containers. Given their chemical-physical properties, it is expected that PFCs will be resistant to hydrolysis, photolysis, biodegradation and metabolism. Recent studies have shown the global presence of PFCs. Human exposure to PFCs is not well known. Potential routes of exposure may be through air, water, household dust and food. In recent years growing interest arose in the study of PFCs; there are currently some information about their distribution in the environment as pollutant but there is a lack of knowledge about their presence in food. Also analytical methods’ literature for the PFCs determination in food of animal origin is very poor. Clearly this substantial lack of information on the hazardous potential, environmental distribution and the fate from farm to fork of PFCs is of concern to policy-makers, producers and consumers.