265 Bulletin UASVM Agriculture, 66 (2)/2009 Print ISSN 1843-5246; Electronic ISSN 1843-5386 Preliminary actions in elaborating a Management Risk Plan to Reduce Dioxins Exposure through the Processing of UHT Milk Rowena-Ana CHELEMAN, Maria TOFANA, Delia TRUTA University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 3-5 Mãnãstur Street., 400372 Cluj- Napoca, Romania, e-mail: rowena_anac@yahoo.co.uk Abstract. Dioxins/furans and dioxin-like PCBs are unintended by-products of natural events as well as manmade processes like paper and pulp bleaching, incinerations, exhaust emissions. TCDD or 2,3,7,8,-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin is the most toxic and most studied compound from the first class of dioxins (polychlorinated dibenzo-para dioxins) that can have serious adverse effects on the human body. Milk occupies an important place particularly in the diet of infants and children and plays a pivotal role in their growth and development, therefore the presence of dioxins/ furans and dioxin-like compounds is considered toxic and hazardous. The aim of this paper was to establish a management risk plan for the production of UHT milk that will reduce human exposure to dioxins through this product. Key words: dioxins, food, safety, bioassay, management risk plan, milk. INTRODUCTION Since 1970 a new problem for food safety attracted attention because of its importance, the presence of polychlorinated dibenzo-para dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (dioxin-like compounds) in feed and food chain, collectively referred as dioxins. [5] Dioxins are chemically classified as halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (HAHs). (Fig. 1) PCDDs PCDFs PCBs Fig. 1. Chemical structure of dioxins PCDDs, PCDFs, and dioxin-like PCBs are generally present as complex mixtures in environmental, food and biological matrices, including humans and other animals. To address the complexity of risk assessment for dioxins, the concept of toxicity equivalency factor (TEF) is used. [4] By using TEFs, the toxicity of a mixture of dioxins is expressed in terms of its total toxic equivalent quotient (TEQ), which is the amount of TCDD that it would take to equal the combined toxic effect of all contributing dioxin congeners within the mixture. As an example, exposure to a mixture of dioxins with a potency of 2 ng TEQ/kg means that the total mixture is expected to have the potency of an exposure equal to 2 ng TCDD/kg. [4] According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the WHO, the most potent dioxin, 2, 3, 7, 8-TCDD, is a now considered a Class 1 carcinogen,