Studies on the effect of chlorinated hydrocarbons content in the compound animal feeding stuffs on the residues in turkey carcasses and efficiency of slaughter turkeys rearing

Abstract An increasing demand for turkey meat requires intensification of rearing, while almost perma-nent presence of stable chlorinated hydrocarbons in the environment, feeds, living organisms, includ-ing humans, to force undertaking studies on the wholesome safety of food of animal origin. Theobjective of the present study was therefore to evaluate selected cereals of different origin in terms ofthe content of chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT, DDE, DDD, and HCH) as well as to determine thecontent of these compounds in turkey carcasses and their effect as feed material on the rearingefficiency. The investigations were carried out in 2002 on 100 one-day-old Big-6 turkey hens randomlyallocated to 4 groups. For the period of 16 weeks, the animals were fed ad libitum with diets based onwheat and barley originating from different regions and characterized by different agricultural andindustrial properties. Chlorinated hydrocarbons were determined in: animal feeding stuffs compound(wheat, barley, meat meal, extracted soybean meal), turkey blood, breast muscles, skin with externalfat, and in abdominal fat by means of gas chromatography with an electron capture detector (ECD).The results obtained confirmed high contents of the examined compounds in feed material and in fatobtained from carcasses of the birds investigated.