Seventeen polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (dioxins) as
well as twelve dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) congeners were analysed in the
seafood samples (prawn, squid, fish, processed seafood and dried anchovy). The average sum
of dioxins and dl-PCBs in the seafood samples were 2.577 WHO2005-TEQ (pg g-1 fw). Mean
exposure to dioxins and PCBs (in pg TEQ kg-1 body weight day-1) was assessed to be 0.333 and
0.643, respectively in the adult population (aged 18-59 years). Although the monthly dietary
exposure of female was higher than male, but there is no significant difference found between
the genders. Adults from rural area were reported to have the highest monthly exposure to
dioxins and PCBs. Across the ethnicity, the highest exposure was found among the Malay,
followed by Chinese and Indian. The daily, weekly and monthly exposure to all groups of the
population were lower in comparison with the corresponding tolerable limits. However, the
results obtained in this study indicated that there is a health risk to high consumer (those who
consumes the amount of food corresponding to the 97.5th percentile of the consumption data)
and caution of reducing the consumption of seafood should be taken.