In 2018, the study involving Bruno Le Bizec, DU from LABERCA focused on exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in four countries: Benin, Cameroon, Mali and Nigeria. This project included the supervision by UMR LABERCA of the doctoral thesis by Luc Ingenbleek from CPC. The findings were intended to provide risk managers with a better understanding of the safety of food produced in the countries involved, and to identify management options to reduce the exposure of populations to certain chemical hazards. The FAO and the WHO helped to raise USD 1 million to finance this project. The project was coordinated by Dr Jean-Charles Leblanc, with Prof Bruno Le Bizec responsible for producing the data and coordinating the work of the laboratories, and Dr Luc Ingenbleek for the technical management of the project. It was decided that the data should feed into a study covering a broad spectrum of chemical hazards to assess the risk associated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the context of a typical diet in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, exposure to POPs requires Total Diet Studies (TDS) to be carried out, so that both the data on the occurrence of these chemical hazards in food and the dietary habits of the populations studied in the four selected countries can be specified. Contamination levels of six classes of POPs (dioxin, PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, perfluoroalkyl substances) were determined in foods as prepared and consumed in these countries.

Given its scale, the project was also supported by the STDF (STDF/PG/303). Various national coordinating institutions in the African partner countries were involved. In Cameroon, the Centre Pasteur (CPC), in Benin, the ABBSA (director of the LCSSA), in Mali, the ANSSA and the LTA of the Wathi think-tank and finally, in Nigeria, the NAFDAC. The contamination rates measured showed that higher concentrations were found in the most lipophilic samples (e.g. fish, etc.), but also that combustion of the smoking material could be a likely source of high contamination, particularly of PAHs.

In addition to its research activities through its UMR, LABERCA is a national reference (LNR) for its activities in support of the Directorate General of Food (MASA).