Assessment of the chlorinated hydrocarbons residues contamination in edible mushrooms from the North-Eastern part of Poland

The aim of the study was to determine the content of chlorinated hydrocarbon residues in edible mushrooms from the north-eastern part of Poland. Material consisted of two species of fungi: Xerocomus mushrooms (Xerocomus badius), Boletus mushrooms (Boletus edulis). The dried samples (cups and cut-up material) were extracted with Soxhlet method in order to obtain lipid substances. In the fat chlorinated hydrocarbons were determined by Ludwicki et al. (1996) method. The separation and quantitative determination of DDT, DDE, DDD and γ-HCH were conducted with the method of gas chromatography using an electron capture detector – ECD. In all tested samples the presence of γ-HCH, DDT and its metabolites (DDE, DDD) was detected. The higher content of γ-HCH was found in Xerocomus mushrooms (average 0.125 μg/kg of mushrooms); in the Boletus mushrooms −0.11 μg/kg of mushrooms. The content of ΣDDT in cups of Xerocomus mushrooms was more than 2-fold higher than in those of Boletus mushrooms (3.78:1.71 mg/kg of mushrooms). The opposite relationship was observed for cut-up material. The higher concentration of ΣDDT was found in Boletus mushrooms (2.26 mg/kg of mushrooms) while in Xerocomus mushrooms this content was 0.91 mg/kg of mushrooms. Despite the fact that chlorinated hydrocarbons were determined in all samples under study, their contents do not exceed acceptable levels indicating that the consumption of mushrooms does not pose a health risk to consumers from the organochlorine compounds.