The former use of chlordecone (CLD) in the French West Indies to fight against the banana black weevil has resulted in long-term pollution of soils. In polluted areas, CLD is known to be transferred into meat of animals reared outdoors. Therefore, decontamination studies of CLD contaminated animals are of real interest for safety of local populations. In this study, 16 two month old weaned kids were submitted either to a control diet based on hay and concentrate (group 1) or to a high energy diet (control diet + corn, group 2) in order to achieve a higher daily energy intake (+ 66 %) and to increase the adipose tissue of the animals (group 2). The animals of both groups were intravenously administered a CLD dose (1 mg/kg body weight) in three successive CLD injections (CLD powder dissolved in Cremophor® EL) to ensure a uniform distribution of CLD in the organism. Two days after the last intravenous injection (d0), blood samples were collected and four animals of each group were slaughtered in order to collect the liver, the peri-renal fat and the complete carcass. The 4 remaining animals of each group were reared for an additional 30 d period (d30) in order to evaluate the decontamination process. These animals were also slaughtered and the same samples were taken. All samples were subjected to CLD analysis.

At d0, CLD was detected at high levels in all samples (group 1,  serum : 886 ± 126 ng/g, liver : 14718 ± 1453 µg/kg , peri-renal fat : 601 ± 13 µg/kg, whole carcass : 1530 ± 18 µg/kg) (group 2, serum : 520 ± 105 ng/g, liver : 13898 ± 867 µg/kg, peri-renal fat : 711 ± 88 µg/kg, whole carcass : 1363 ± 106 µg/kg). CLD concentrations were found in a same range in animals of both groups with a highest concentration in liver. At the end of the experiment, CLD concentrations were significantly lower in all matrices (group 1, serum : 152 ± 13 ng/g, liver : 2133 ± 428 µg/kg , peri-renal fat : 132 ± 41 µg/kg, whole carcass : 198 ± 38 µg/kg) (group 2, serum: 168 ± 36 ng/g, liver : 2500 ± 634 µg/kg, peri-renal fat : 152 ± 27 µg/kg, whole carcass : 231 ± 73 µg/kg). Thus, in a short period of 30 d, the total CLD amount was found to decrease by about 80% in both control and high energy fed animals. CLD was rapidly excreted from the animal organism and did not appear to be strongly linked to adipose tissue. Such results give interesting inside in terms of decontamination and safety of animal products.