Dioxin Analysis

Dioxin is a general term that describes a group of 210 chemicals that are highly persistent in the environment. Dioxin is formed as an unintentional bi-product of many industrial processes involving chlorine, such as waste incineration, chemical and pesticide manufacturing, and pulp and paper bleaching.

PRL’s low detection limit testing is instrumental in protecting the food supply of countries globally by helping our clients monitor what their populations are consuming and whether they are staying below recommended consumption levels.

Analytical methods with testing limits that go even lower than current government regulations require are important so that dioxins and their pathways into food are identified early.

Testing for seventeen toxic congeners

Our lab tests for seventeen toxic congeners (seven chlorinated dioxins and ten chlorinated furans) which have been assigned toxic equivalency factors by the World Health Organization (WHO). Our reference method for this analysis is EPA 1613b.

To perform tests at this level, our dioxin laboratory utilizes some of the most sensitive instruments available, including three Thermo DFS High Resolution Mass Spectrometers.

Our chemists have presented a number of important papers in this field of research, including presentations on improving and speeding up the analysis of dioxin at recent dioxin conferences (2014 Madrid, Spain and 2015 Sao Paulo, Brazil).

For more detailed information on what’s included in a dioxin report and information on the use of toxic equivalency factors, click on our dioxin example report link.