foods Article Safety and Transfer Study: Transfer of Bromoform Present in Asparagopsis taxiformis to Milk and Urine of Lactating Dairy Cows Wouter Muizelaar 1,2,* , Maria Groot 3 , Gert van Duinkerken 1, Ruud Peters 3 and Jan Dijkstra 2 1 Wageningen Livestock Research, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands;
[email protected] 2 Animal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands;
[email protected] 3 Wageningen Food Safety Research, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 230, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands;
[email protected] (M.G.);
[email protected] (R.P.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +31-317-487-941 Abstract: Enteric methane (CH4) is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions from ruminants. The red seaweeds Asparagopsis taxiformis (AT) and Asparagopsis armata contain halogenated compounds, including bromoform (CHBr3), which may strongly decrease enteric CH4 emissions. Bromoform is known to have several toxicological effects in rats and mice and is quickly excreted by the animals. This study investigated the transfer of CHBr3 present in AT to milk, urine, feces, and animal tissue when incorporated in the diet of dairy cows. Twelve lactating Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were randomly assigned to three treatment groups, representing the target dose (low), 2× target dose (medium), and 5× target dose (high). The adaptation period lasted seven days, and subsequently Citation: Muizelaar, W.; Groot, M.; cows were fed AT for 22 days maximally. The transfer of CHBr3 to the urine at days 1 and 10 (10–148 van Duinkerken, G.; Peters, R.; µg/L) was found with all treatments.