Brominated flame retardants and toxic elements in the meat and liver of red deer (Cervus elaphus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and moose (Alces alces) from Latvian wildlife

Highlights: • Occurrence of BFRs and heavy metals in wild game samples from Latvia was evaluated. • Liver showed higher levels of contaminants in comparison with the musculature. • Levels of selected BFRs in Latvian terrestrial biota are lower than in other regions. In order to evaluate the contamination status of terrestrial biota in Latvia, muscle and liver tissues of red deer (Cervus elaphus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and moose (Alces alces) were analyzed for the content of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), as well as cadmium and lead. The highest mean concentrations of PBDEs (46.6 pg g^{− 1} wet weight (w.w.)), cadmium (0.95 mg kg^{− 1} w.w.), and lead (0.22 mg kg^{− 1} w.w.) were observed in the tissues of moose, while the wild boar samples contained the highest levels of HBCD, with the mean concentration equal to 264 pg g^{− 1} w.w. in muscle tissues. Generally low mean concentrations of TBBPA from 0.52 to 4.54 pg g^{− 1} w.w. were observed. The liver tissue of all analyzed specimens was found to contain higher concentrations of contaminants, compared to muscle tissue. The congener profile of PBDEs in the analyzed tissues indicated that the recently used "penta-BDE" formulation was a probable source, while components of HBCD, "octa-BDE", and "deca-BDE" technical mixtures are likely to undergo congener-specific or diastereomer-specific bioaccumulation or metabolic degradation. Considering the reports from other regions, it can be concluded that the terrestrial biota in Latvia is less affected by the studied contaminants.